Hush
by to black holes and dreams
Summary: In this time, the silence is dangerous; dreams and nightmares are not what they seem. Thoughts and memories cannot be trusted. Only the trickster god Loki and I have the ability to restore the universe to its proper balance, but we are up against nearly insurmountable odds. LokixOC. Rated M for sexual situations, torture, rape.
1. Abandoned

I rest my forehead against the cold stone wall, trying to slow my breathing. Sweat breaks out on my skin even though the room is frigid. I know I have little time before he comes back.

Footsteps echo in the hallway and my body tenses, expecting his hot hand to grab the back of my neck and drag me out the cell. But the footsteps pass and I am safe, if only for just a moment longer.

I curse the day I found out I was not the true blood of Odin. That moment destroyed my life, turned it upside down. Even though I had qualms with my life before, they were nothing compared to the day-to-day hell in which I now live. I hate Odin for concealing the truth from me and using me as a pawn in his games, I hate myself for failing in my purpose to take over the Earth, but most of all I hate him for doing this to me.

For making me weak. For making me want to die. For making me lose myself.

I clench my hands and punch them against the wall, trying to distract myself from the pain filling my mind. I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to withstand this torture. My mind and soul are already broken, shattered into thousands of pieces and scattered amongst the realms. It will not be much longer until my body gives out as well, and then I will be cast into Niflheim to endure pain for the rest of days.

The soft creak of a door alerts me to his presence. I scramble back from the front of my cell and crawl into the corner, hating myself for being such a pathetic creature. I wish for magic to shield me in the darkness, but my one strength is well and truly gone. I am on my own, in a fight in which I am sorely outmatched.

I cannot see him through the pitch-black darkness, even though my eyes have grown accustomed to it in these long months. But I can hear the sound of the lock turning and the scuffling sound of his boots, and then I know he is standing before me.

He kneels down but does not reach for me; at this distance, I can see the blinding white of his teeth as he chuckles softly. "Oh how I will miss you, my dear little Loki."

"What?" I manage to croak out, my voice hoarse.

This time he reaches out to caress my cheek, a gesture that seems kind until he suddenly slaps me. "It appears Asgard has use for you once again."

Glass crunches underneath my feet as I walk over to the 1988 Ford Thunderbird. I trace a scrape along its side as I think of all the memories it has created, from lazy Sunday car rides through the park to emergency drives to the hospital as a kid lies screaming in the backseat. Now, however, its time for making memories is past. No one will drive the destroyed car again.

I struggle to remember why the car has been destroyed, but the thought keeps flitting just out of reach. I gaze into the car, hoping to see some clue, but the truth evades me. I abandon my attempts completely when I see the man standing just past the car wreck. His hair is long and neatly combed, and he is dressed in a plain sweater and blue jeans. Even with his back to me, I can tell I know the man. But how; who is he?

At that moment he turns around and smiles at me, his white teeth flashing against his tanned face. "Ah Miss Caroline, how lovely to see you again. Come here, I wish to show you something." I glance one last time at the wrecked car before crossing the glass-littered road to stand next to him. And in that weird dream progression, suddenly we are no longer standing next to a car wreck, but rather in the soft sand of the beach. The man gazes off into the distance over the ocean.

"Do you see it, Caroline, that splash of green off on the horizon? It's such a beautiful color." He glances over me at me and adds, "It would suit you quite well, I think." I smile at him and then look to where he is pointing. I struggle to see what has caught his attention. I know it is vitally important that I see it, though much like the mysterious car accident, I can't remember why.

"Look a little more to the left," the man says quietly. I start to turn my gaze in the direction he suggests, but I never make it there. I am startled out of the dream by a sharp knock on my front door.

I groggily glance over at the clock, certain it must be the middle of the night. The piercingly bright numbers confirm my thoughts. Who on Earth would be knocking on my door so late in the night?

I throw my head back into the pillows and groan as I debate getting out of bed to answer the door. Although I am desperate to stay in my warm nest of blankets, the niggling thought that it might be Fury worms its way to the forefront of my mind. Fury has come close to knocking down my door before, and it would not be so unlike him to come in the middle of the night with important news.

As a new round of insistent knocking begins, I drag myself out of bed and shuffle through my cluttered, untidy house towards the door. Even without turning on the lights I am able to avoid all the haphazard stacks of books and boxes placed randomly through the house. When I reach the front door I flip on the kitchen door, blinking rapidly as I try to adjust to the garish light. I unlock the door and then open it, my brain taking a few seconds to process the image sent to it.

_It could be worse_, I think as I stare at the two figures standing on my porch in the darkness. _It could be Stark._

Still, this did not bode well.

Before I can say a word, the blonde giant speaks up. "I am terribly sorry to bother you at such a late hour, madam, but my brother and I are lost and need help finding our way. We would be most grateful if you could aid us." He gives a little bow as if to emphasize his proffered gratitude.

I step back and thrust the door open wider, saying, "I think I'm better equipped to help you than most. Come on in, Thor and Loki."

An expression of shock crosses Thor's face but he quickly recovers and walks in through the door, bending down slightly as he does so. Loki follows quietly behind Thor, his light footsteps difficult to hear over the elephant-like pounding of Thor. I motion Thor and Loki over to my kitchen table, shoving over the stacks of books and papers littering the top. I tell them to make themselves comfortable as I go into the living room to make a phone call.

As the phone rings, I peek around the corner and size up my new guests. Thor is dressed in his standard armor and cape, Mjolnir hanging from his belt. His light-colored hair is shoulder-length and his facial hair neatly trimmed. He comfortably leans back in the chair, apparently at ease in my house. My house which is basically miniature-sized compared to him.

I knew I should have splurged on the larger house closer to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Damn.

Loki, on the other hand, is clearly uncomfortable. He perches on the end of his chair and nervously picks at the skin around his fingernails. Unlike Thor, dressed to the T's in armor, Loki is merely wearing a dark shirt, leather jacket, and black pants and boots. The material of his shirt looks strange, though, so I lean in a little further to get a better look.

Loki suddenly turns and looks straight at me, as if he was aware I was staring at him. Our eyes connect for a brief moment, green to blue, before I stumble back behind the corner in panic. I try to calm my rapidly beating heart as the phone call finally goes to voicemail. "Hi, Director Fury, this is Agent O'Connell. You need to come to my house immediately; Thor and Loki are here. Don't bring Stark. And bring food, if you can. I have a feeling Thor is going to be hungry."

I end the call then walk back into the kitchen where Thor and Loki are still sitting quietly. Thor looks up at me as I enter; Loki ignores me. I lean against the counter and ask, "So I'm guessing you guys are here to speak with S.H.I.E.L.D., right?"

Thor hesitates before nodding and saying, "Preferably we would talk to Director Nick Fury. It is of the utmost importance. I realize we are imposing on your kindness here, but would you be able to take us to S.H.I.E.L.D. or contact them for us?"

"I already called Fury and told him to come here. I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent," I say in response to Thor's look of surprise. "Hopefully he will be here soon. Until then, can I get you guys something to eat or drink?"

Thor's face lights up at the mention of food, so I bring my visitors a plate of muffins and some apple juice I find at the back of my fridge. Thor immediately dives into the muffins, devouring them all in record time. Loki touches neither the muffins nor the juice. Instead he stares off into space, probably hoping he could be somewhere else.

As Thor eats he says, "I am thrilled we managed to find you. We travelled from Asgard with the intention of arriving at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, but unfortunately our coordinates must have been wrong. We ended up in an elderly lady's home. You could say she was not happy with our sudden appearance."

"Oh?" I ask, my curiosity piqued.

"There was a lot of screeching and she chased us out of her house with a broom."

I try my best to stifle my laughter. "That was probably Mrs. Walters, one of my neighbors. She's a fierce old woman, isn't she?"

Thor nods seriously, brushing his fingers lightly across his beard. Muffin crumbs sprinkle down onto the table. "We would be hard-pressed to find as mighty a warrior as her on Asgard."

Oh, brilliant. I need to tell Mrs. Walters that one day.

At that moment we all turn as the front door swings open. Fury, typically wearing all black, strides in my kitchen. He pauses briefly as he notices the odd company sitting around my table.

"I had hoped you were joking, O'Connell, but it appears you were not."

Fury closes the door and crosses the kitchen in just a few quick strides. He roughly pulls out the only empty chair from the table and sits down, saying as he does so, "Well Thor, although it is a pleasure to see you again, we were hoping you would not show up for some time yet. It always seems that trouble follows you. Especially since _he's_ with you," Fury says, motioning vaguely towards Loki without breaking eye contact with Thor.

"Director Fury," Thor starts, lacing his fingers together and leaning his forearms on the table. I have to admit, Thor seriously projects authority and leadership. "I have been sent by the Allfather Odin and the other Asgardian gods to relay a message to Midgard. It is of a serious nature, so I ask your full attention.

"I believe you know of Heimdall, an Asgardian god who can see and hear much. A few days ago he overheard some beings plotting against Midgard, vowing revenge for the wrongs done to them in the past. After destroying Midgard, these beings said they would turn their fury on Asgard and the other realms for leaving them to be abandoned among the black holes and other waste in space. Although Heimdall is very powerful, the beings had cloaked themselves so that he could not determine where they were speaking from or who was speaking. He did mention that he heard three distinct voices. Whether that means these three are just arranging the attack or whether they will be the entire attack, he did not know. Heimdall shared this news with Odin, who called together the other gods to discuss what should be done.

"It was decided that Loki and I would be sent here to Midgard to help prepare against the attack. Although we do not know in what form this attack will come, we will do our best to assist, and once we find out more information we can do more to help. I will also act as a liaison between Midgard and Asgard. The rest of the Asgardians will prepare for war, should it break out."

"Hold up," Fury says, straightening in his chair. "You're telling me that we're going to be attacked by some unknown beings and none of you know how this attack will progress?"

"That is correct," Thor replies, "although we do have reason to believe that this attack will be in a mental, rather than physical form."

"What gives you reason to believe that?" Fury asks.

Thor looks at Loki, as if expecting him to speak up. When silence ensues, Thor sighs and says, "Loki also overheard these strange beings talking at a different time. He heard them say that because Midgardians are so weak in terms of mental abilities, these beings would do much better to attack mentally rather than risk a physical confrontation."

Fury pauses then asks, "How much do we need to worry about these unknown beings?"

Loki chooses then to quietly speak up, although his eyes remain glued to the top of the table. "You have reason enough to be terrified. If these beings do target your minds, you will be easily overcome. You might think there are geniuses among you enough to stave off an alien threat, but the fact is that beings of every other realm are more advanced than you humans. You have no concept of protecting your minds, which leaves you open to be easily destroyed."

"The last time you were here, you tried to destroy Earth and failed. Why should we believe you?" Fury shoots towards Loki.

Loki shrugs. "It matters not whether you believe me. Just know that I am your best hope of survival in this grim matter."

"You will help us then?" Fury asks skeptically. "You won't try to set an army on us again?"

"I have not been given a choice in the matter," Loki says, tracing the grain in the table top. "I am to assist Midgard and protect against its destruction."

Fury stares at Loki for a long moment before looking to me. "What do you think of this situation, Agent O'Connell?"

I start as I realize that I had foregone all my training of reading body language and interpreting patterns of speech. Instead I had slipped into listening to Thor's account like a child does when hearing a fairytale. I glance at Thor first then Loki, quickly coming to the realization that something isn't right. I can pick nothing up from the gods; they are like blank sheet in a world otherwise filled with color. I glance quickly at Fury, to see if this weird hiccup is affecting everybody, but I can sense Fury's uneasiness and frustration. I turn back to Thor and Loki but they continue to remain emotionless to me.

I avoid making eye contact with Fury, choosing instead to look at my slippered feet scuffing against the floor. "I don't know what to think, sir."

I don't need to look at Fury to sense the surprise he is feeling. His sharp intake of breath and the sudden feeling of frustration tell me that I will be speaking to him about this failure later.

"Well then," Fury says. "I suppose I will have to take your word, Thor. Because it does not seem there is much we can do as of now, I will alert the Avengers that something is cooking that could potentially be dangerous. Until then, all we can do is wait and watch. Thor and Loki, you will stay here?"

Loki nods once but Thor shakes his head. "I must return to Asgard tomorrow to update Odin on the preparations being undertaken here. Before I leave, I can relay to the Avengers what they should look for and how they should prepare for this situation. Loki will stay here, however."

Fury gazes sternly at Loki, clearly warning him to behave. "Okay, I suppose we'll have to work with that. If you two could just sit here for a moment, I need to talk to Agent O'Connell in private."

Fury pushes his chair back from the table and stands up, then quickly walks off in the direction of my spare bedroom. I trail behind him, my mind racing through all the possible scenarios of this little "chat." _I'm dead_, I think to myself. _I'm going to be sacked for sure._

Fury slams the door shut behind us and then stares me down. I can see the frustration and anger rolling off him. Yep, I am surely going to be sacked. "Now then, Agent O'Connell, would you like to tell me what the hell that was? You had one purpose and you completely failed me."

I remain silent, not sure how to explain to Fury what had gone wrong when I myself didn't even understand it. Fury impatiently turns and walks over to the window, pacing before it. He rubs his forehead, trying to relieve some of the intense pooling there.

"This is a mess," he says quietly. "This could not have happened at a worse time. Not only have I sent some of our best agents halfway across the world on another mission, but Stark has destroyed the residence wing of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters."

"Um… what? Stark blew up headquarters?"

"That idiot was working on some way to make the heating more efficient in that part of the building. He apparently got a little too overenthusiastic and set fire to half of the rooms. The others have water damage due to the fire system being triggered."

Even though I can tell Fury is pissed, I can't help but snigger. I am never going to let Stark live this one down.

Fury stops his pacing and directly faces me, clearly unpleased by my reaction. "What's not so funny, Agent O'Connell, is the fact that we now have nowhere to keep our Asgardian friends. I would not be adverse to putting Thor in a hotel for a few days, but I am not letting Loki anywhere out of sight. The only thing we need is for Loki to raise a new army and try to take over the world again on top of this new threat."

"So put an agent in the same hotel with Loki. Problem solved," I say.

"Or, he could just stay here in your house. Problem solved," Fury mimics.

I laugh, thinking he is mocking me. But after the moment stretches out with Fury looking at me expectantly, I realize he is serious.

"You're joking," I hiss. "You want me to house a lunatic Norse god? No way. There's nowhere for him to even stay. You can see for yourself what a mess my house is; Christ, Thor has already knocked over like six stacks of book in the short time he's been here. And that was an accident. Think of all the damage Loki could do here. He wouldn't have any trouble setting fire to the house and then making a run for it.

"Absolutely not," I say forcefully as Fury remains silent. "I will not even entertain the idea. He leaves here tonight."

Fury squares his shoulders and moves a step closer to me. "Agent O'Connell, you failed tonight in your duty. I will not fire you for one mistake when you have been so reliable over the past few years, but you need to fix this problem. I assume it has something to do with the fact that these two are not human. There may come the day when S.H.I.E.L.D. is reliant on you to determine if another extraterrestrial is lying, and when a wrong answer could result in destruction of the Earth. You have the perfect opportunity to fix this now, as Asgard appears to be an ally. Thor and Loki will willingly help you if you explain your problem to them. With these two living with you, it is the ideal situation. They will stay here in your house until the residence quarters reopen, and you will fix the problem. Understood, Agent O'Connell?"

It is hard to argue with angry Fury looming large in my face, so I give a small nod. Though I can't help but add as he strides out into the hallway, "I better get some reimbursement for this!"

Fury stops briefly in the kitchen to update Thor and Loki on the housing situation. Meanwhile I lean against the doorframe and try to think of where I can keep these two huge gods. I have two bedrooms, mine and the spare, but only one bed.

And I am not sharing a bed with all that armor and leather. Or crazy. Nope, no more crazy for Callie O'Connell, thank you very much.

When I hear the front door slam, I know I am alone in the house with my new problem. I can hear Thor talking quietly to Loki, though if Loki responds, I hear nothing. Having made my decision as to where to keep them, I walk into the kitchen to update the two gods.

I find my visitors not in the kitchen, but rather having migrated to the living room. Loki stands sullenly in the corner, frame rigid, while Thor lounges comfortably on the couch. His huge form dwarfs the couch and he is perilously close to kicking my lamp off the end table. Both gods look up at me as I enter the room.

"Okay, so here's the deal. Stark apparently blew up part of headquarters so you two are going to stay in my house until the rooms are fixed up. I only have one bed so you should probably take that, Thor, or else you're going to destroy my living room. Loki, you can take the couch unless you find somewhere else more comfortable to sleep."

Thor sits up and looks at me, confused. "If I am taking your bed, where will you sleep?"

"I'll just crash in the living room. No worries."

Thor crosses his arms over his chest. "It is not proper for a man to take the resting chambers of a fair woman such as yourself. Stay in your bed, and I can sleep here. Besides, I leave for Asgard tomorrow."

I groan; of course he has to be chivalrous and polite at a time when I only want to go to sleep. Though he does have a good point about leaving so soon. "Okay, fine. Loki can take my bed then. I won't argue about it further," I say, seeing Thor about to speak up. "Both of you are far too big for my tiny living room. If you both sleep in here you're surely going to destroy something."

Thor inclines his head in agreement, although he is clearly unhappy about the situation. Loki does not contribute to the conversation. "Okay great," I say. "Loki will take my bedroom and Thor, I'll grab some blankets so that you can sleep out here on the couch. The bathroom is the first door to the left in the hallway. Extra towels are in the closet. Other than that, just ask me if you need anything. And if you eat all my food just let me know so I can buy more. Now everybody, good night, and I'll see you in the morning," I said, hoping to scoot them all off to bed so that I could go back to sleep.

Loki quietly shuffles off to my bedroom, not saying a single word of thanks. "Jerk," I mutter under my breath before scooting off to take some blankets out of the closet. When I come back to the living room, arms overloaded with blankets and pillows, Thor gently takes them from me.

"I am most grateful for your assistance and hospitality, Agent O'Connell," he says while spreading blankets out over the couch.

"You're welcome," I say as I plop down onto the armchair and snuggle under a blanket. _Finally, peace_, I think as I drift off to sleep.


	2. Emotions and Feelings

I wake to the smell of fire, of burning. _Holy mother of pearl_, I think, _Loki's actually burning the house down_. I jump up and fly into the kitchen, seemingly the source of all my problems these days. I pause as I see not Loki gleefully standing there, nurturing a crackling fire, but rather Thor attempting to make toast. Smoke is pouring from the toaster and the situation doesn't look to improve any time soon as Thor reaches for his hammer lying nearby.

"Stop, stop Thor!" I say, scrambling to save my poor toaster. "Here, just, unplug it, okay?"

I unplug the toaster and shove it to the side, making a mental note to deal with the charred remains of bread later. I then turn to face Thor, but catch a glimpse of the kitchen behind him.

"Holy," I start, trying to push past Thor to see. "What the hell happened? Did an entire legion of you Norse gods come and decide to perform a science experiment in my kitchen?"

I finally manage to shove Thor aside, opening up a clear view of my kitchen. Pancake batter is slopped across the stove top, with a lone burnt pancake lying in the frying pan. Flour covers the surface of all the countertops, and I can see broken bits of egg shells strewn across the floor. It also appears that somebody has pulled out every single pot, plate, and bowl I own and left them cluttered on the countertop.

I look across the countertop to see Loki innocently sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. I can practically feel the trickster grinning in amusement at the mess that is my kitchen.

"Thor?" I croak out, turning to him. "What…?"

"I apologize, Agent O'Connell. I was attempting to make you breakfast in return for your hospitality, but unfortunately I am not very experienced in the ways of Midgardian… um…" he waves his hand towards the toaster, searching for the word.

"Kitchens? Appliances? _Cooking_?" Much to my embarrassment, my voice cracks on the last word. "And I appreciate your kindness, Thor, but you can just leave the cooking to me next time, okay?"

Thor nods and starts putting away clean bowls and plates while I deal with the mess on the stovetop. When finished, Thor moves over to the toaster. I eye him warily, unsure if he's going to try pounding on it again. I speak up when he lifts the toaster above his head, as if to smash it on the ground.

"THOR, NO. Move away from the toaster. Leave. Toaster. Alone," I say, sternly pointing my finger at him.

Thor cheekily smiles at me and gently sets the toaster down, then walks over to the table and plops down into a chair. Having finished cleaning up most of the kitchen, I begin ferrying dishes and various dry breakfast foods to the table. I sit down and pour myself a bowl of cereal while Thor takes on the bagels. Loki continues to read the newspaper with no apparent interest in eating.

After a few moments of contented chewing, I say, "Actually Thor, and you too, Loki, there is something you can do to help me out. It's the reason why Fury had you guys stay here with me."

I look up from my spoonful of cereal to see Thor looking expectantly at me. Loki still has not moved from his paper, but I can tell he is listening.

I take a deep breath then plunge in. "Okay, so this is going to sound crazy, but the reason why I work for S.H.I.E.L.D. is because I can sense peoples' emotions and feelings. Now I know there are some people who can do this just based off a person's body language or the way they speak, but I can actually see what people are feeling in the form of color. So, for example, if an angry person was sitting in front of me right now, I would see a red cloud surrounding them. It gets a little complicated but that's the gist of my ability."

I dunk my spoon into the milk and swirl it around, avoiding making eye contact with either of them. "I've never had any problems with my ability not working. It has never failed me, I have never been wrong. But then you two walked in the door and for some reason, I can't get a reading on either of you."

"You can't tell what we're feeling?" Thor asks.

"Not in the way I normally can. If I tried hard enough, I could tell what you're feeling based on your body language or speech patterns, but I can't see any colors associated with you two. Fury is understandably not happy about this new development and he wants me to fix it. He thought you two might be able to help me."

I look up from my cup to see Loki staring intently at me from over the top of his newspaper. He looks as if he is about to say something but then Thor pitches in, "Of course we will do our best to assist you, although I am not sure exactly how to do so. Loki is probably in a better position to help you than I, since he is more experienced in ways of magic. Also, I am to return to Asgard today to give an update on the situation here."

Great. I had forgotten that I was going to be stuck alone in my apartment with Crazy One.

Although at least Crazy One didn't destroy my kitchen while I slept.

Thor stuffs half a bagel into his mouth and while still chewing, asks, "Loki, what do you think we should do?"

Loki merely shrugs and turns his attention back to his newspaper, pulling it up so that we could no longer see his face.

"We're going to get a lot of help there," I mutter. With that, Loki briskly snaps the newspaper shut and strides out of the room, leaving Thor and I alone.

Thor stares at Loki's empty place for a few moments before quietly saying, "I apologize for Loki's behavior, Agent O'Connell."

"He isn't what I expected."

"Which is what, exactly?"

I hesitate, unsure of how Thor will respond to what I have to say. "Well, I was expecting more of a homicidal maniac intent on destroying the world. From what I know about him, I thought he would be a smartass and would just go around trying to kill all of us. But so far, all he's done is sit silently and stare at the walls. Hardly much of a threat."

Thor sighs before dropping his voice to a whisper. "He has been different lately. He has… had a difficult time upon his return to Asgard, I believe."

"'His return to Asgard'? You mean after he tried destroying the world?"

"Yes. When I took him back to Asgard after his failed assault on Midgard, he was punished for his crimes. Odin tried to lessen his punishment, but the other gods were adamant that he be, well, taught a lesson. After much argument, it was decided that Loki's magical powers would be bound and he would be confined to a single room, without distractions, to think over his crimes. One of the gods, Vidar, was assigned to be Loki's caretaker, to make sure that he followed the conditions of his punishment."

"But that doesn't sound that bad," I say.

"I fear worse happened to him than what I told you. I cannot prove anything, but I suspect that Loki was tortured quite badly. Under the conditions of the punishment, Vidar was not supposed to harm Loki. However, when I went to Vidar's abode to check on Loki's progress, I heard screams. Vidar tried to forbid me from seeing Loki but I persisted. Loki was covered in numerous bruises, cuts, and scars that could not be explained. When I asked Loki about his injuries, he would not respond. Vidar offered no explanation either."

"Did you tell Odin what was happening? That Loki was being tortured?"

"I did, and though Odin was outraged, the other gods could not be persuaded to intervene. I believe that several of the other gods knew that Vidar would torture Loki, which is why they demanded that Loki's punishment not be lessened and that he be handed over to Vidar. They seem to think that it was fair punishment for all the trouble he caused."

"You would do that to your own kind? Turn a blind eye when one of your own is being tortured?" I say in disbelief.

Thor frowns at me. "And you humans do not do the same?"

"Fair point," I say quietly.

Thor takes my hand in between his two giant ones. "Agent O'Connell, although I do not know exactly what was done to Loki, I do know that it consisted of unimaginable horrors. I have never seen Loki like this before; he seems to me to be broken. He will not confide in me, nor anyone, for I fear he has lost his trust in others following the truth of his parentage and his subsequent torture. While I am gone, please be kind to him. He needs to learn to trust again, but he will not receive that from anybody else because they will judge him for his past actions. But I see a good heart in you, and know that you can look past these things. Please give him a chance."

"I'll do my best, Thor," I say, gently squeezing his hand.

"And tell Loki more about your problems. If anybody can fix you, it will be Loki. And unfortunately, with that I must journey to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and then return to Asgard. I should be back in a few days to see how things are progressing here. Hopefully nothing interesting will happen in my departure, but if it does, Loki will be able to contact me."

Thor stands up and moves to my side of the table. He gently grasps my shoulders. "Everything will be fine, Agent O'Connell. There is no need to worry. Thank you for your wonderful food and your hospitality, and I will see you in a few days."

Thor turns to go, but thinking of something, I grab Thor's wrist and stop him from leaving. "Wait, Thor. This Vidar… who is he, exactly?"

Thor gives me a long, searching look before answering. "Vidar is also a son of Odin, though his mother is not Frigga but rather a giantess. He is typically seen as being the god of the forests, revenge, and silence."

I snort. "Well there's an interesting assortment of abilities. But I mean, if he's the god of revenge, wouldn't it make sense that he tortured Loki as payback for something Loki did to him?"

Thor shakes his head. "Vidar is a relatively solitary god. He disappears for months or years at a time, off roaming about in his forests or whatnot. He is gone so often that we know little about him, other than his general abilities and that he is the son of Odin. I do not believe that Loki and Vidar have met prior to this instance, so Vidar would have no reason to seek revenge on Loki."

I am still not satisfied, but it appears Thor has nothing else to say. He nods once more at me before briskly striding out of the house. I hear the front door slam shut and then it's just me and Crazy One.

I think over all Thor shared with me and all that I already knew about Loki while I clear off the table. Some of my first days working at S.H.I.E.L.D. were in the aftermath of Loki's attempted takeover, so I was right there in the thick of it. I heard from all the Avengers (minus Thor, who had already gone back to Asgard) about what a crazy nutjob Loki was. I saw the footage of him ripping out the man's eyeball in Stuttgart, and of corrupting Hawkeye and Erik Selvig. Although I had never seen him in person, I thought I had learned enough of him to conclude that he was a homicidal maniac and not to be trusted.

This information about his torture made me pause, however. It certainly still didn't make me trust him, but it helped explain why he had been so quiet and distant. Maybe Loki wasn't who I thought he was.

But his torture was post-attempted takeover. It still didn't account for his murder spree in the time he was here on Earth. So even though he might be "broken," he was still a murderer.

And now I will have to beg this murderer for help.

I sigh. Why can't things just be uncomplicated for once? Why couldn't I just be a normal person, living a happy, ordinary life with no Norse gods living in my house?

_Move on_, I tell myself. _You can't change what you are or the life you have already lived. But you can affect the future, which means that the sooner you overcome your new color handicap, the sooner you can get Loki out of my house._

I finish washing the dishes and then walk into the kitchen, intent on getting started with this training business. I find Loki perched on the armrest of the couch, flipping through a book about body language. I stop just before him and wait for him to look up. When he doesn't, I clear my throat and start talking.

"Look, I get that you probably don't want to be here. But you said you're obligated to help, so the first thing you can do is to help me."

Loki's long fingers, currently in the process of flipping a page, pause. He slowly looks up at me, his green eyes meeting mine.

"Agent O'Connell, I am obligated to help save Midgard from certain destruction. I am not, however, obligated to help you, as I do not see you to be influential in saving Midgard. You will have to work on your problems yourself, for you will be receiving no assistance from me. Now please leave me alone."

He snaps the book shut and stalks off in the direction of the bedroom. I groan and toss my head back in frustration. This situation is just getting better and better.


	3. Land of Eternal Cold

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I stare at the coffee pot, mesmerized by watching each drop of coffee fall into the dark brown pool at the bottom. I will the machine to work faster, as I badly need the caffeine.

I shudder as I recall the dream that had awoken me earlier in the morning. The dream had started off the same as all the others—I sat on the beach, watching the waves beat and pound against the sand. I watched the foam as it swirled in the water, completely at peace. But then suddenly I felt the sharp edge of a knife press against my neck, right at the jugular, as a long arm wrapped itself around my midsection.

He was so close I could feel each short intake of breath and hear each subsequent slow release. For a few moments we stayed frozen in place like this, listening to each other breathe.

Then he brought his face close to mine and whispered into my ear, "This beach is washed of all color. How I long to spill your blood to stain the sand red for the rest of time."

But that was where the similarity between my dreams ended. Instead of wrestling Loki for control of the knife, this time I felt Loki lean into me, the ends of his hair tickling my face. His nose brushed against my cheek as he turned to lay kisses along my jawline.

Meanwhile the knife traced gently down my neck, turning to dance around my collarbone. The grip around my waist tightened as Loki kissed his way down to my shoulder. I shuddered as he nipped at the delicate skin there.

Loki lifted his head, just enough so that his lips barely grazed my skin. He ceased all movement and whispered, so softly I can hardly make out the words, "I am not the demon you imagine me to be, Agent O'Connell. I will offer you a choice: give yourself willingly to me, or we will paint the landscape scarlet with your blood."

Thankfully at that moment, I woke up. I wasn't sure which option I was more frightened of—seeing myself die at Loki's hands, or wanting to choose him.

A loud, urgent banging on the front door startles me out of my musings. I step towards the door but stop as I look down at myself and see I am wearing my embarrassing hot pink My Little Pony pajamas.

Nope, not answering the door in those.

I turn towards the closet with the intention of throwing a coat over my pajamas, but unfortunately I am not quick enough. My early-morning visitor discovers that the door is unlocked and swings it open, laying bare the glory of my pajamas to the world.

"Balls," I mutter quietly as I see Stark standing in the doorway, looking quite proud of himself as he eyes up my pajamas.

"Set fire to your home and now need somewhere to stay?" I snap at Stark. "Come join the party; Crazy One is already here. You would make a fitting addition."

"Cute pajamas. Do you dress like that every night? If so, I'm definitely in."

I ignore Stark and turn around, having even more reason now to down a cup of coffee. I push all the buttons until the machine stops, not caring that it has yet to run to completion, and pour myself a cup of coffee. I gulp some down before turning around to greet the circus that has arrived.

Stark has moved to stand just inside my kitchen, leaning against a countertop and smiling smugly at me. Banner has joined him holding a large briefcase and staring in obvious horror at my pajamas. Fury towers in the doorway behind both of them, looking completely unfazed by the blinding shade of hot pink staring him in the face.

A sudden thought of Fury sleeping in hot pink My Little Pony pajamas causes me to splutter and nearly choke on my coffee. I try to recover as Fury speaks up.

"Agent O'Connell, we are here to have a meeting with you about the situation. We have a new lead."

I gesture in the direction of the table, inviting them to sit down while I gear up the coffee pot again and grab some food to put on the table. Sometime in this preparation, Loki sneaks into the kitchen and quietly sits down, looking surprised at neither my pajamas nor the company in my house.

After the coffee has finished brewing, I cradle my cup of coffee in my hands and sit down at the sole empty chair. As soon as I sit, Fury starts talking.

"Since Thor could not give us much information about the impending attack, I decided it would be best to keep an open mind and consider all possibilities as means of attack. So over the past few days, I've had Stark and Banner monitoring the globe for any unusual occurrences. They were to look at news headlines and stories to see if anything out of the ordinary happened, and they were also to look at statistics to see if anything changed drastically that could not be explained by other factors.

"Last night, Banner found a story about a small team in northern Norway working on an archaeological dig. Apparently a few months ago, some random Norwegian hiking through the forest stumbled upon a cave. Upon entering the cave, she found paintings on the cave walls and broken bits of pottery. She contacted the authorities, who suspected this might be the remains of some long-lost habitation.

"Upon exploring the area further, they made the discovery that a huge landslide had occurred many years ago, burying the area under the cave. They started digging and lo-and-behold, found more signs of habitation.

"This is all relatively uninteresting enough, except for the fact that a few weeks ago, a member of the team committed suicide. His fellow team members said that he had never previously been suicidal and was described as being an optimistic, cheery person, though one man mentioned his personality changed drastically within the few days before his suicide.

"Since that time, five other members of the team have committed suicide. Keep in mind that this team is not large to begin with, maybe fifty members, and all these suicides have occurred over six weeks. This is highly unusual, and we think it might have something to do with these beings that Thor mentioned."

"Are you sure there isn't some other cause?" I ask.

Stark pipes up, "That is exactly what I said. I mean, they live in Norway, the land of eternal cold and polar bears. I think that's reason enough for them to commit suicide."

Banner clears his throat, throwing an exasperated looking at Stark. "That's obviously not it. Norway has consistently been ranked one of the best countries in the world to live in. Besides, it's not cold all year round there, and it's not as if polar bears just wander the streets of Oslo."

"Plus their Prime Minister is good-looking," I murmur, winking at Banner when he catches my eye.

"Look," Fury says impatiently. "Something is up, and it's not Stark's theory that they're just unhappy because they live in Norway. I very much feel that these beings could be the root of the problem. Thor said they would attack mentally. Is it not plausible to think that these beings are corrupting peoples' minds, driving them to suicide?"

I stare into my coffee cup, as if it will hold the answers to all our questions. When nobody else speaks up, Fury turns to me and asks, "O'Connell, what progress have you made with your recent shortcoming?" He nods in Loki's direction as he speaks.

"None," I reply. "Señor 'I'm not obligated to help you' has better things to do, apparently."

All of us jump as within the blink of an eye, Fury stands up and closes the distance between him and Loki. He grips Loki's shoulders in his massive hands and stares him straight in the eyes, saying, "Now you listen here, you piece of shit. I don't want you here any more than you want to be here. The fact of the matter is, you're here until Thor says you can go home, which doesn't look to be any time soon. You are obligated by Odin to help save the Earth, or else you return to your reeking prison cell. The way I see it is that by those terms, you are also obligated to assist Agent O'Connell. Do you understand me?"

Loki nods once, and as Fury backs away, turns to me and says, "Agent O'Connell, I would be most grateful to assist you, if you would so have me."

I nod curtly before turning to Fury and asking, "So why tell me all this? I'm not sure I understand what I can do."

"You are being sent to Norway to investigate the situation. Loki will travel with you."

"I'm going to Norway?" I exclaim in disbelief. "Surely there must be other agents who are better suited to this type of investigation than I."

"No, you are the perfect agent for this mission. If these beings are changing the minds of people, you might be able to see a reflection of this in their emotions. You can also easily determine if people are lying to you, in case this is just some big set-up of some kind. I see no reason why you should not go. Plus, Loki might be able to recognize an extraterrestrial attack better than us. Since you still need to learn from him, you go where he goes."

"I bet Loki will recognize extraterrestrial attacks better than us, given that he's lead them before," Stark says snidely.

I've had enough of Stark for one day. "Stark, shut up. Just because you're having a bad day doesn't mean you need to take your frustrations out on everybody else."

"Who says I'm having a bad day?"

"I do. You're pouring off anger and frustration, and also a bit of… is that guilt I see? Oh, I bet you and Pepper got into a fight because you were being a pretentious ass again, right?"

Stark reaches over the table to grab me but is stopped as Fury slams his fist into the table. "ENOUGH. You two," he says, pointing to me and Stark, "stop bickering like little children. We have more important issues to concern ourselves with."

Stark sits back in his chair, casting me an icy look. "I agree with you; I think you should send Ice Queen to Norway with Reindeer Games. We'll all be happier with them gone."

Fury ignores Stark, saying to me, "Pack your bags. You leave for Norway tonight."


	4. The Trickster's Sincerity

Some hours later, I am sitting in New York's JFK airport, waiting to start boarding our flight to Oslo. A book about the processes of seeing color, a gift from Banner, sits in my lap. The book remains unread, however, as I'm feeling too anxious to focus on it.

Loki sits near me, clearly experiencing no such worries about our sudden trip to Norway. When we had arrived at the gate he had sat down, carefully leaving one seat between us as a buffer. Since that time, he had simply stared at the wall with a blank expression. He showed no signs of growing bored any time soon.

I sigh and glance at the clock, seeing that we have a few minutes yet before they'll start boarding the plane. I turn back to my book and spend the next few minutes re-reading the same paragraph over and over. Eventually I slam the book shut in frustration, as my lack of concentration prevents me from understanding the meaning behind the words.

As I shove the book into my backpack I hear Loki say quietly, "Your reading of Stark's emotions was impressive for a mortal."

I zip my backpack shut and then look over at Loki, who is still staring at the wall. "Well, thanks, I guess. Like I told you before, I have no problems reading emotions and feelings from other people. It was a breeze with Stark, especially given how strongly he was feeling those emotions." I shrug.

Loki does not respond and we resume our uncomfortable silence. I pick pieces of lint off my sweatpants to kill time and when I finish with that, examine my fingernails.

Finally I hear our seats being called for boarding, so I stand up, pulling the strap of my bag across my shoulders.

In the blink of an eye Loki moves so that he is standing in front of me, blocking my path. "Listen, Agent O'Connell, I am most sorry I refused to help you before. I just did not believe you when you said you could sense others' emotions. But now that I've seen you in action, so to speak, I can tell that you are telling the truth. I would be honored to assist you in learning to read gods such as myself." Loki touches his chest with his hand and bows slightly to me.

All my experience with liars and reading people tells me this is wrong. There is no way he is sincere. Even though Fury had threatened Loki, I didn't believe that would be enough to motivate the trickster. Everything I know about Loki's personality indicates that he will only do what he truly wants to do. He will resist everything else.

I cross my arms over my chest and make eye contact with Loki. "Oh really? I'm supposed to believe that all of a sudden you'll help me? Well I don't. I have absolutely no reason to trust you and I'm not about to start doing so now. Prove to me that you're sincere and I'll accept your help."

A small smile tugs the edge of Loki's lips upward. "You have begged me countless times over the past few days for my help, and now you want me to prove my sincerity to you?" He laughs breathlessly. "Well okay then, mortal."

Suddenly Loki grasps my upper arms and pushes me forcefully against the wall, leaning his full body against mine. His lips brush against my ear as he whispers, "I know you are not telling me the full truth. When you told me that first day you could sense people's emotions through the form of color, I thought you were lying. I now know you are telling the truth, yet it is not the full truth, is it, Agent O'Connell? You are hiding something from me, something that is important. Yet despite knowing that you are hiding something from me, I am willing to help you. Does that not prove me enough to you?"

Loki's hand glides over my throat, closing gently around it. "I could kill you so easily. Had I wished it, you would not have survived that first night. As I stood over your prone body, I could have plunged my knife into your chest and ended your pathetic life right then. But I did not. Even now, I could crush your throat without breaking a sweat, and without any thought to my conscience. Yet I will not mar your perfect white throat on this day. Does that ensure your confidence, Agent O'Connell?"

_Aw hell no_, I think as knee Loki in the crotch and then shove him away from me. Loki is caught off-guard and stumbles backward, but otherwise does not appear to be hurt. He gathers his balance and then looks at me with a playful smile on his lips.

"It appears I underestimated you."

A tall, bulky man (probably on steroids) runs up to me, grabbing my arm and yelling far too loudly in my ear, "Are you okay ma'am? Is he threatening you?"

I wrench my arm out of his grasp and say coldly to him, "I thank you for your assistance, but I have the situation under control here."

The man stands in place for a few minutes, clearly uncertain about whether he needs to intervene further. He finally moves on after I snap at him to leave.

With steroid man gone, I briskly march up to Loki and tell him, "You will not threaten me again, do you understand? I have training enough to deal with the likes of you, should you decide to overstep your boundaries again."

Loki holds his hands up in front of him, as if silently asking me to calm down. "Duly noted. But what say you about my offer?"

I stare straight into Loki's eyes and say, "I accept. But know that I do not trust you, and never will. Nothing about your past or your personality engenders confidence that you will not stab me in the back later. I will keep an eye on everything you do, and if I figure out you're screwing me over, I will not waste any time in sending you back to the stinking, dirty prison cell you came from."

I turn on my heel and walk away from Loki, towards the line where people are waiting to board. I see people all around the gate area staring at me in concern and confusion, undoubtedly wondering if they need to pitch in help, but I ignore all their looks. I make it through the passport check and board the plane, not bothering to see if Loki has followed me. At this point, I am almost hoping he'll just try to escape.

I find my seat near the back in the plane, so I toss my bag on the floor and plop down in the chair, immediately buckling my seatbelt. I watch the other passengers as they board the plane, automatically noting who is emotionally stable and who might cause problems on the flight.

After a few minutes I see Loki walking towards his seat, directly next to mine. Damn.

He gracefully sits down and after a few moments of silence, turns to me and says, "I sincerely apologize for my behavior back there. I pushed you to see how you react, and I must admit I went a little too far. If you will accept my apology, we can start your training on the flight."

Out of habit, I look at Loki to determine if he is lying. Of course I cannot tell; he is still blank to me. A clear sign that I should indeed start my training as soon as possible.

I give Loki a brief nod, indicating he can continue. He points towards a mother sitting a few rows ahead of us, holding a small child on her lap. "Before I can help you, I need to get a better feel for your abilities. You read Stark easily enough but then he would be an easy read, given how strongly he projects. But that woman, sitting there, should not be so easy for you. Tell me, how is she feeling right now?"

I look at the woman and instantly colors swim into my vision. I see bright, strong yellow surrounding her, in some places intertwining with strands of hot pink. I can just barely make out traces of grey and orange-red swirling over the mess of bright colors.

"She's extremely happy—elated, in fact. That's the foremost feeling she's experiencing. She is deeply in love, which is only adding to her happiness. She's also experiencing some short-term emotions, including tiredness and anxiousness. But overall, cheery, optimistic person."

Loki does not comment on my reading but instead points to another man. "Tell me what he is feeling."

I repeat the process time and time again, until finally we are interrupted by the flight attendant walking us through the safety instructions. Loki gives the pamphlet a cursory glance but then turns his attention to observing the people around us.

Apparently growing bored, Loki tilts his head towards me and whispers, "You continue to impress me, Agent O'Connell. You were correct for every person I had you read. But now I need more information from you. You said that you see emotions and feelings as colors, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"I need to have a clear understanding of how you sense this. Could you explain in more detail for me?"

"Well, I see emotions and feelings as two different things. Emotions are short-term and intense, whereas feelings are sustained and generally stable. Feelings are generated from emotions, if that makes sense. So, for example, depression is a feeling whereas sadness is an emotion."

Loki nods, seeming to understand.

"When I see feelings, they seem to hang over people like a cloud… or like a background. Emotions are painted onto this background. So, for example, if I was talking to a depressed person, I would see a cloud of blue surrounding her. If she had an argument with her roommate recently and was angry about it, I would see patches of red in the blue cloud."

"So blue is sadness, red is anger?"

"Generally, yes. Like I said, it gets complicated. The stronger the emotion or feeling, the stronger the color. If somebody is furious, I will see it as a darker red than somebody who is just angry. There are also a lot of colors used to represent emotions. Some are intuitive, some aren't."

Loki leans forward, maintaining eye contact with me. "Do you see these colors all the time, or do you have to focus on it?"

I shake my head. "I can't turn it off; the colors are always there, whether I want to see them or not."

"But you cannot read either me or Thor."

"No. You two have been blank to me."

"Have you always had this ability?"

"No, it started when I was in my mid-teens. I don't know what triggered it, if anything did."

Loki rubs his face as he thinks, staring off into the distance behind my head. I shrug further backwards into my seat, uncomfortable at having him so close to me.

After a few moments Loki speaks up again, still staring off into space. "My guess, for now, is that you cannot get a reading on Thor or I because we are not human. Even though we are close to being human, there must be some subtle difference that prevents you from reading our emotions. I wonder if you are able to sense emotions as signals, which your system interprets as colors. If so, it is possible that Thor and I send out these signals in different ways which you are not able to recognize. Well," he says, rubbing his hands together intensely, "let's see if we shall fix that, shall we?"

I tense up as Loki leans even closer, but he suddenly backs off. "But not now. We will continue this when we are on land again. It will be easier for both of us to connect when we do not have to contend with screaming babies," he says, over the shrieking of the child a few rows ahead of us.

I nod then pull my book out of my backpack, intent on trying to take my mind off this weird Loki situation. Loki stares at the back of the seat in front of him, apparently content to just go into screensaver mode again.

The next few hours pass uneventfully. After some time we are served dinner, which Loki picks at but mostly ignores. When the remains of dinner are cleared away, people around us start to get ready for sleep. I crawl past Loki to head to the bathroom before going to sleep myself. I do my business and then open the door, but the lock sticks. I struggle with the lock for a few minutes before I finally manage to pry the door open. When I make my way back to my seat, Loki looks at me innocently, asking, "What took you so long; was there a queue?"

I shoot Loki a glare, knowing the trickster god had caused the problem. Not wanting to start another fight in such a confined place, I decide that I'll scold him for it later.

I shove a pillow behind my bed and throw a blanket over my legs, then close my eyes and try to sleep. Unfortunately I have never been good at sleeping on planes, so after a few hours of tossing and turning, I decide to watch a movie. I look over at Loki; his eyes are closed and his breathing has slowed, so I figure he's sound asleep.

The pickings for movie choices are slim, so I eventually settle on some generic romantic comedy. The story line is interesting enough, and I find myself getting involved into the story.

Of course, being a romantic comedy, there comes the part where the main characters start making out with the promise that of having sex. Clothes start flying everywhere, and I self-consciously look over at Loki to make sure he isn't awake and seeing this. Thankfully his eyes are still closed.

Still, I blush when the naked couple falls into bed. I pray the scene will be over shortly, and that things don't get too graphic.

Suddenly, out of my peripheral vision, I see Loki's head move closer, leaning forward towards the screen. I steal a furtive glance at him and see his eyes are wide and intent on the screen.

Oh god.

Fast forward fast forward.

Unfortunately the screen does not allow for such delicate control, so I am forced to endure the rest of the drawn-out, graphic sex scene with Loki practically gawping at the screen.

After the scene ends I see Loki turn towards me. I try to ignore him, instead continuing to watch the movie, but I am forced to look at him after he pokes me gently in the arm. I take out my headphones and pause the movie to talk to him.

"What?" I whisper, exasperated.

"I have heard the phrase 'mile high club' before. I believe it refers to individuals engaging in sexual activity on a plane, correct?"

I merely gape at Loki, astounded beyond belief.

"Would you like to try it?"


	5. Dark Blue

"It's beautiful," I breathe, my nose pressed flat against the window of the van. The drive, a Norwegian named Lars, chuckles in response to my comment, probably having heard it time and time again. I hear Loki snort but he does not say anything, so I continue to gaze out the window. I try to memorize every stunning detail of the landscape, hoping to paint it in my memory so that when I return to the solemn skyscrapers of New York, I can picture the soaring mountains and transport myself back to this place of nature. More than anything, I want to drop all my responsibilities and duties and just go explore every inch of this land.

"The beauty of Midgard does not compare with that found in other realms," Loki murmurs, stoically looking out his own window. I look over at him, expecting him to elaborate, but he resumes his sullen quietness.

It's the first thing he has said to me since the night before, when he made his comment about the mile high club. I had not responded to him, choosing instead to turn off the movie and close my eyes. I woke up a few times during the night, worried that I would see Loki staring lewdly at me while I slept, but he had not bothered me.

In the morning I was far too tired and crabby to make conversation with Loki, so we sat next to each other in the airport during our layover in complete silence. I slept on the flight to Alta, in the northernmost part of Norway, so that eliminated all chances for conversation.

A solemn Norwegian named Lars greeted us in the airport, saying that he was to drive us to where we would be staying. He mentioned that he was a part of the archaeological dig team, but other than that had said nothing else.

I continue to stare out the window, mesmerized by the clumps of trees and brief glimpses of water dotting the landscape. Small, wooden houses begin to pop up, and before long the traffic around us increases.

"Welcome to Alta," Lars says quietly as we turn onto a street lined with various stores. I continue to gawp at the buildings and people walking on the sidewalk, but then a thought occurs to me. "Lars, you mentioned that Loki and I would be staying in a hotel. Where are the other members of the dig team staying?"

Lars answers in his thick accent, eyes still fixed on the road ahead of him. "We are also staying in the same hotel. The owner of the hotel is the brother of one of the team members, so we are able to stay at the hotel for free. The excavation site is a short drive east of Alta, in the wilderness, so it is not inconvenient for us to travel to the site each day."

Lars, having answered the question, slips back into silence. The three of us spend the next few minutes alone with our thoughts until Lars pulls up a rough gravel driveway leading to a white house. "We are here," Lars says as he puts the car into park. "I must return to the excavation site now, but Solveig, the owner's wife, is expecting you inside. She will help you check in and find your rooms. The rest of us will be back later tonight."

I take in my surroundings as I scramble out the car and lug my suitcase out of the trunk. The house is two stories tall and painted white, although the paint is badly chipped and faded. I see a sign marking the house as a hotel, partially covered by a large bush. Flowers dot the path leading up to the front door.

Loki strides off towards the house without hesitation, practically flinging the door open in his haste. I follow him at a more leisurely pace, finding myself in a small, cluttered front room. The room is dominated by a large desk, behind which a slim, pale woman stands.

"Welcome," she greets us, standing up. "You two must be the agents who are looking into the situation here. I am Solveig, co-manager of the hotel. We have a room for each of you, up on the second floor. They are next to each other with an adjoining door that can be locked from both sides."

Oh yeah, because a lock is really going to keep Loki out.

Solveig continues to walk us through the basics of the hotel, including when meals are served, then hands us our room keys and invites us to go upstairs and settle in.

Loki quickly disappears up the staircase, clearly intent on plotting to take over Midgard, or whatever he occupies himself with these days. I take my time in walking to my room, looking at the various pictures hanging on the walls and absorbing the atmosphere of the hotel.

The upstairs hallway is narrow and marked by several plain, grey doors. I look at each door carefully as I pass, examining the room number, until I find my room at the end of the hallway. I unlock the old-fashioned lock and push open the door, smiling at the pleasant sight before me. A queen-size bed fills the small room, opposite which a small dresser and TV stand. A table and chair are situated under the sole window in the room. Thick curtains hand to the side of the window, probably to help block out the midnight sun.

There are two doors in the room. I open one experimentally, finding the bathroom on the other side. The bathroom is also small, but clean and orderly. I figure the other door leads to Loki's room and remind myself to lock it later.

With a content sigh, I fall back onto the dark bedspread and smile to myself as the soft mattress comforts my tired body. I close my eyes, content to have a moment's piece.

"Bored already?" a dry voice asks. Wrenched out of my happy place, my eyes fly open to see Loki standing at the foot of the bed, standing down at my form with an amused expression on his face. "Well if that's the case, then we should get to work."

Before I have time to argue, Loki sits down on the bed next to me, the mattress depressing slightly under our combined weight. He settles himself comfortably as I sit up, slowly sliding my butt backwards to put some more space between us.

Loki traces the pattern on the bedspread with his finger, saying, "I have been thinking about how we might begin our lessons. Even though I am well-versed in matters relating to intelligence, magic, and unique abilities, I have not encountered an ability like yours. As such, I am not entirely certain how to proceed, although I do have a few thoughts. Tell me, is it easier for you to sense emotions if you're physically closer to somebody?"

"Yes," I say, watching his pale fingers compulsively trace the pattern over and over again. "At the beginning, when this ability first developed, I could only sense emotions if I was touching somebody. Eventually it expanded to the point where I only have to be in the same room as a person to feel them. I can sense people from farther away if I'm familiar with them."

Loki's fingers stop moving, and I can see him look towards me out of my peripheral vision. "So you would be able to sense a lover from a great distance?" Loki asks nonchalantly.

Even though I know he is looking at me, I continue to stare down at the bedspread. "Yes, I would be able to."

"Can you sense your lover while you're here in Norway?"

I fix Loki with a firm gaze, choosing not to answer. There's no reason why Loki needs to learn about my love life when it has nothing to do with our mission.

Loki continues on, almost as if I had not ignored him. "If it is indeed easier for you to sense emotions when you're closer to somebody, maintaining physical contact with me might help you." He inches closer to me until his knees brush against mine, then he holds his hands out in front of him, palms up. "Take my hands and tell me if anything is different to you."

When I hesitate, unsure if he's being serious, Loki patiently says again, "Take my hands."

I draw in a deep breath and extend my hands, placing them gently in his. I wrap my fingers around his long, elegant hands, feeling a sudden shock from the coldness of his skin.

Nothing is obviously different to me, though. I still cannot see any colors surrounding him.

"No, nothing has changed," I tell him. Loki drops my hands and then lifts his, reaching towards my face. As I flinch and lean away he says, "Relax. Maybe getting closer to your mind will help. You should also follow suit; it might improve the connection, so to say."

Loki waits until the tension leaves my body before pressing his cold fingertips gently against my temples. I gingerly touch him in the same way, then gasp and quickly pull away.

"What?" Loki asks as he drops his own hands, confusion written on his face.

"I… I don't know," I stutter. "I just felt something… strange, when I touched you."

"Strange, as in you felt my emotions?"

"I don't think so," I reply. "But whatever it was, it was intense. You know, Loki," I say as I hurriedly stand up from the bed. "I'm tired; I didn't sleep well last night. Plus I need to finish unpacking and start organizing the investigation. Why don't we continue this later?"

Loki nods, although appearing slightly disappointed, and walks through the adjoining door to his room. As he disappears from sight I hear him say, "We will try again after dinner."

I wait until the door clicks shut, then I walk over and lock it from my end. I draw in a shaky breath as I fall back against the bed and close my eyes, trying to erase the image from my eyes. Like the blinding flash of a camera taking a picture, however, the image will not fade even with my eyes shut.

I had often seen strong emotions before, but nothing like what had just happened with Loki. When we had physically connected, the space surrounding Loki exploded in a blaze of dark midnight blue. Green streaks illuminated the dark blue, and black tornados swirled in the sickening mix of colors.

He was a man torn apart by jealousy, grief, and regret.

The feelings were so strong that I could feel them seeping over into me, something I had never experienced with any other person. I dropped off the contact so quickly because the feeling of Loki's grief threatened to overwhelm me.

I shudder, trying to imagine happier things. Loki's emotions sink on me like a weight, however. If those were truly Loki's emotions I was feeling, I did not know how I could continue lessons with him. Before long I would succumb to madness trying to keep the intense depression at bay.

As I begin to fall into sleep, my mind and body exhausted, I hope that all the dark blue I saw was simply my imagination.


	6. Lessons

After unintentionally sleeping through the entire night, I wake up the next morning groggy and confused. I stumble out of bed and stand there stupidly for a few moments, trying to figure out where I am and what year it is. The memories of the past few days come back slowly, but they do come back, and I realize that I need to get to work.

I jump in the shower, relaxing in the hot water and steam. Afterwards I walk over to the steamed up mirror. I wipe away some of the steam with my hand, revealing my tired face staring back at me. My long dark, curly hair is in a tangled mess around my round face. My blue eyes are framed by dark shadows that further accentuate the paleness of my face.

The mirror quickly steams up again, masking my view. I finish getting ready, making of mental checklist of the things I need to accomplish today. First things first—meet the members of the team. Talk to the friends of the victims; see if they noticed anything unusual. Obtain the police reports and carefully look through them.

And train with Loki.

I'm so startled by the sudden memory of his intense grief that I nearly drop my toothbrush into the sink. I had completely forgotten about the incident the night before, and as such, hadn't yet thought of any ways to combat the overwhelming power of his emotions.

So in short, move that one down the list. Do not attempt until you have figured out a way to handle safely.

My stomach grumbles insistently as I clatter down the staircase, following my nose to the dining hall. As I walk into the room colors instantly swim into my vision. I take a deep breath and try to ignore the colors for now, searching out where the food is located. When I find a table laden with food on the far side of the room, I walk over to the table and start piling my plate high. I use the moment to brace myself for the colors when I turn around again.

When I'm ready, I turn and look around the room, focusing on each person individually. Most people are shrouded in Kelly green, the color of contentment. Streaks of blue and grey can be found hovering around most people, which makes sense given the unfortunate series of events plaguing the team.

I have almost completed my scan around the room when a blank hole interrupts the canvas of colors.

Loki. Far too early in the morning to deal with him.

I start to walk towards a different table but stop when I look more closely at Loki's companion. A dark midnight blue surrounds the man, indicating he's suffering from bitter grief and regret. I would bet my breakfast that he was close with one of the suicide victims. He would be a good place to start with the investigation.

As if he knew I was standing there, Loki turns around and meets my eyes, interrupting my creeping. He subtly nods towards his companion and waves me over to join him.

I walk over to the table where the man is sitting and set my tray down next to Loki, catching the man's attention. The Norwegian looks up at me and I take a moment to examine his face—large, thick-framed glasses, short hair in a mess. He has a long, straight nose, clear eyes, and a stubborn chin.

"Is it okay if I join you?" I ask him.

I see the spark of sky blue color even before I see the surprise reflected in his face. He recovers quickly though and smiles at me. "I was going to guess that you were the other agent before you spoke, as I have never seen you before, but the fact that you spoke in English first confirms it." He motions for me to down across from him, saying, "I am pleased to meet you. My name is Anders Helvig, and I am helping work on the project here."

"I'm Agent O'Connell, but you can just call me Callie."

I pull out the chair to sit next to Loki, awkwardly maneuvering myself into the seat. The chairs are close together and of course Loki doesn't move his chair to help. As I sit down I feel Loki's leg brush against mine.

As I spread jam on a piece of bread, Loki motions towards Anders, saying, "Anders was a friend of one of the suicide victims."

I look up from my bread to watch Anders for any changes in emotion. The blue surrounding Anders seems to darken and expand around him. He plays with his mug of coffee, avoiding eye contact with both me and Loki. "Yes. One of my very good friends, in fact. Her name was Marit."

"I am truly sorry for your loss," I tell him, trying to project sympathy to him. "I know it hurts to talk or think about it, but if you could tell me anything about her suicide or the weeks leading up to it, it would be very helpful for the investigation."

Anders pauses and I am afraid he won't speak up again, but then he says, "One of the policemen working on the case thought that outside events drove her to suicide. I can tell you with utmost certainty that nothing of the sort happened. She was not engaging in any strange activities or meeting in the dark of the night with strangers. Her job is secure, she was not in a relationship, and her family is all safe and sound. I can think of nothing that would make her commit suicide."

"Was she depressed?"

"No, absolutely not. She is… was… one of the most cheerful, optimistic people I've met. That's part of why her death hit me hard. She would be the last person I imagine to take her own life… she just had so much to live for. Although in the week before her death, she did seem more down and depressed than I've ever seen her before."

I chew on a piece of bread slowly, contemplating. Meanwhile Loki asks, "You're positive she wasn't meeting with any strange people?"

Anders shakes his head.

An idea occurs to me. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that not all of you travel to the dig site, yes?"

"Yes, that is right. Some of do research, either online or at libraries, trying to find any information related to artifacts the others find at the site."

"Was Marit directly working at the dig site, or was she researching?" I ask.

"Marit was one of the researchers, like me. Marit and I are both specialists in Norse mythology and religion, so we were looking for possible connections between this civilization and Norse religion."

"Did Marit come into contact with any of the artifacts found at the site?" I ask, wondering if these beings could possibly be transmitting through something physical.

"No," Anders says, immediately dismissing my idea. "I handled some of the artifacts but I know that Marit did not."

Our conversation is interrupted as we are joined by a few more Norwegians. Loki takes the break to say to me, "Welcome back to the world. I was worried our short training session last night did you in."

Just then one of the new Norwegians, a man who introduces himself as Simen, asks me, "Did you sleep well last night, agents?"

I nod vaguely, not wanting to admit that I slept for over twelve hours. Simen smiles, responding, "Well at least one of us is sleeping well. It certainly isn't me what with all these nightmares I've been having."

Anders pokes Simen in the arm and says, "I'm sure they'll abate once you clear up your relationship problems. You're just worried about that."

The Norwegians continue to talk about their dreams and relationship problems, giving me time to think. After this conversation with Anders, I feel like I have even less to go on, as I can see no obvious connection between Marit's suicide and the mysterious beings Thor mentioned.

Although she was an expert in Norse mythology and religion… that might be something to pursue further.

The Norwegians, having finished their breakfast, tell us that they must leave to get to work. They say goodbye and leave just as a short, stocky man walks up to us.

"Are you Agents O'Connell and Laufeyson?" he asks. When we nod he sits down across from us, dropping a thick manila folder down onto the table.

"I am Alv Landvik, the policeman in charge of the investigation here. I have been told to hand over my notes and evidence to you, as you'll be taking over the case. Everything I have collected is in this manila folder. I wish you luck; I can't seem to make any headway on the case. Far as I'm concerned, this site is fated for death."

"Cheery guy," I murmur quietly to Loki as Alv walks away, leaving Loki and I alone with the manila folder situated between us.

Loki reaches over and picks up the folder, rifling through the sheets inside. "Well let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

After a few hours of going through the police files on the case, Loki declares he needs a break and walks away from the table.

The most important facts of the case were that six people had died within the last six weeks. Four of the victims had been male, two female. The ages varied widely, from 56 to 22. All of the victims had been associated with some way with the project, although not all of them worked directly at the site. None of the victims were clinically depressed or previously suicidal, and there seemed to be no direct cause for their suicides.

So basically, the police had nothing.

Unfortunately, Loki and I had nothing more. I had asked Loki if he got an extraterrestrial feel from any part of the case, and while he said he thought it strange, nothing stood out to him as seeming inherently extraterrestrial.

I rub my face with my fingertips, trying to digest all the information that I had been bombarded with in the short morning. I hear a plate set down in front of me and look up, startled, to see that Solveig has placed a sandwich in front of me.

"You need to eat," Solveig says, reminding me of my mother. "You should also take a break; it will help clear your mind and help you come up with a solution. I recommend taking a walk down to the Altafjord after you finish lunch. You can find a path leading to the water's edge behind the hotel."

I thank Solveig before digging into my sandwich. After I finish I clean up my plate and then run upstairs to grab my light waterproof coat, thinking I'll take Solveig's suggestion of a walk down to the water.

I shrug into my coat and slip on my worn tennis shoes before stepping outside. The summer's day is not especially warm, but neither is it cold. A light rain sprinkles against my face, and when I look up I see that the sky is heavily overcast. I refuse to let the gloomy weather spoil my walk, however.

I head towards the rear of the property, where I easily find the dirt trail leading to the Altafjord. I follow the winding, twisting trail through clumps of trees and bushes. The clean air clears my head as I revel in the beauty of the nature surrounding me.

My solitary peace is shortly disturbed as I hear the soft crunching of twigs behind me and realize I'm being followed.

I turn, my eyes scanning the forest. I cannot see or feel any emotions, which means it can only be one person.

"Okay god of mischief, time to reveal yourself. I know it's you. I would be able to see anybody else by the color they give off from their emotions."

Loki shimmers slowly into view, standing some feet behind me on the trail. He has thrown a dark jacket over his clothes from earlier.

"Very clever. I am glad to know my student is intelligent, for a mortal."

I turn on my heel and continue down the path, hearing Loki follow behind me. We walk in silence until we reach the end of the trail.

As I step out from behind the trees, I receive an unobstructed view of the fjord. The water glimmers brightly, even on such a gloomy day, and I can see waterfalls dotting the sides of the cliffs. "It's stunning," I say, stepping forward until my shoes line up just before the water's edge. I stand by the water and look down the fjord for some minutes, content to just gaze upon its beauty.

Loki stops behind me, almost appearing bored. After a few minutes he says, "If you are quite done gaping at the fjord, we should get started on your lessons."

I freeze. Shit. I had forgotten about that.

Loki points back a few feet, towards the forest. "There is a spot over there that is dry. We can sit there." He walks over and sits down, not bothering to see if I follow.

I walk over to Loki and gingerly touch the ground, making sure it isn't wet before I sit down. Confirming that it is indeed dry, I carefully sit down and cross my legs.

"Well now," Loki says, looking at me. "Before we begin, there is something I have to ask you. Are you sure you want to learn this from me? You might be rather disturbed by what you see."

"What alternative do I have?" I ask dryly.

Loki smiles grimly. "Well then let's pick up where we left off last time, shall we?"

Unsure of what to say, I nod blankly. Loki reaches out and touches my temples, and I mirror him, closing my eyes as I do so.

"Open your eyes, Agent O'Connell," Loki commands. "You can hardly see my emotions if your eyes are closed," he comments dryly.

I open my eyes carefully, not wanting to be blinded like last time. To my pleasant surprise, however, I can see Loki's emotions but they are not nearly so intense. This time I can stand to look at him and I don't feel overwhelmed by what he is experiencing. Yet even though Loki's feelings aren't overpowering me like before, I can still feel hints of his sadness. What's more, I pity Loki for the negative emotions he bears so heavily.

"Do you see colors?" Loki asks.

I nod, Loki's fingers moving against my skin. "You're so… blue…" I whisper, Loki's eyes widening in response. The words start flowing out of my mouth as I see Loki tense as if to leave. "You're completely shrouded in a cloud of dark blue—the color of grief—with smudges of jealousy and regret thrown in. The colors are the most intense of anybody I've ever read. How do you… cope… with it?"

"You are surprised by this?" he snaps, seeming angry by my comments.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You act surprised by what I'm feeling. Should you be? Should I be feeling anything else after what I've gone through?"

Loki abruptly drops his hands, ending the contact and the colors I'm seeing. He stands up and walks away, leaving me sitting alone beneath the tree, wondering what had gone wrong.


	7. Chaos

I've always been a light sleeper. My sister used to swear that just staring at me would wake me up.

She must have been right, as I can think of no other reason for why I jolt awake in the middle of the night. As my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness, I become awake of a dark form standing next to my bed.

Without conscious thought, I jerk upright and reposition my weight onto my lower body so that I can launch myself at the intruder. Just as I leap into the air, the intruder slams his body into me, trapping me against the bed.

The intruder's hand claps over my mouth as I open it to scream. I flail around, seeking to dislodge him, until I realize that I recognize the voice.

"Stop this foolishness and just listen. Do you hear it?"

"Loki, you creep," I mumble against his hand, knowing perfectly well he can understand me. As Loki moves his hand to grip my arms, I say, "I'll switch to a different room—hell, I'll switch to a different hotel!—if you insist on breaking in through the adjoining door."

"Still won't stop me from magicking the lock open," he responds calmly. "Now hush and listen!"

Through the little light coming in through the curtains, I see Loki turn his head to the side as if he's hearing something. I close my eyes and focus on the small noises in the night; the slight breeze rattling against the window, the sound of a toilet flushing somewhere, the creak of a floorboard. Nothing that Loki would be freaking out about.

Although admittedly, my attention is not completely directed towards what I'm hearing. Loki's weight pressing me down into the mattress is decidedly distracting. I find my mind keeps wandering to how Loki's cool hands feel against my arms and the sensation of his body resting against mine.

After a few moments of straining my ears and hearing nothing interesting, I whisper, "What am I supposed to be hearing, exactly?"

"They're here. The beings."

I reflexively tense and try to sit up, finding myself blocked by Loki's much larger body. "Relax. They're not here physically." He cocks his head, seeming to hear something. "Mentally. They seem to be… searching."

I push against Loki's chest, trying to force him off of me. "We have to do something!"

"No. We can do nothing for now. We do not know enough about them and are not prepared enough to wage any kind of attack against them. We know they're here, and for now that's enough."

"Do you know what they're searching for?"

"My senses are not quite refined enough to infiltrate their cover. I can tell that they are here, but I cannot pinpoint their exact location nor determine exactly what they're doing."

I start to say something but Loki presses a finger against my lips, quieting me. His head swivels around for a few seconds before he says, "They have departed. I must say, they stayed for a much shorter time than I anticipated. I wonder if they could sense I'm here."

"Great, now get off of me," I say between clenched teeth. "I can't think when you're pinning me down like this."

Even through the darkness, I can see the corners of Loki's lips turn up in a smile. His eyebrow twitches inquisitively. "You can't think when you're being pinned down? Oh, how I would love to test that theory."

"Off!" I hiss, throwing all my strength into pushing against Loki's shoulders. This time he cooperates, lithely rolling off me. He does not leave, however; instead, he lies down next to me on the bed, his shoulder rubbing against mine.

I prop my head up on my hand and glare at Loki, knowing that the light in the room is enough to outline my form. "Excuse me."

Loki stares at the ceiling as he says, "You are excused."

"Not what I meant. Shouldn't you be leaving now?"

Loki puts his hands behind his head and leans back comfortably, giving no indication that he's going to move any time soon. "I get no thanks?"

"For breaking into my room—don't argue, I know I locked that adjoining door—scaring the shit out of me when you just creepily stared at my sleeping body, pinning me to the bed, and then refusing to do anything against the beings? Hell no. You're lucky I don't forcibly throw you out the room. Now get out."

"We need to talk," Loki says patiently.

"Loki, it's past midnight. I'm sure nothing catastrophic is going to happen in the next six hours or so."

"Says the person who was angry at me for not doing anything."

I huff audibly, flopping my head backwards against the pillows in frustration. "Fine! Talk, if that's what you want to do. Just get out of my bed first."

Before I have time to react, Loki's hands are wrapped around my waist and then he's pulling me into an upright sitting position, my folded legs crunched uncomfortably against his. He grabs my hands and places the fingertips gently against his temples, then he moves his hands to my face.

"It's too dark in here for normal humans to see colors, but can you still see them?"

"Yeah so this is not talking about the situation."

"Answer me. Can you see the colors?"

"Yes, I can, but I don't understand what this has to do with discussing what to do about these mysterious beings."

"That can wait. If you can see my emotions, you will know if I'm lying, correct?"

Loki doesn't wait for me to answer before saying, "Ask me. Ask me about my past, about my life on Asgard before I tried to free Midgard. You do not know the entire truth, Agent O'Connell, and you are judging me unfairly. You see me as merely a murderer and a crazy lunatic who should be locked up forever. Yet those people you've met before who turned murderers and thieves, they have had some trigger, right? Something made them what they were. You know this very well and yet you do not stop to think about what might have caused me to become like them. So ask me, Agent O'Connell. Ask me what made me the way I am, and I will tell you the truth."

"So I think the first step is to notify Fury that the beings are definitely here, so that he can send the Avengers to assist…"

"Ask me!" Loki snaps, shaking me. "You cannot begin to truly learn from me until you can put your prejudices aside and trust me!" His intensity scares me into silence, and I find that my mouth has suddenly gone dry. I think for a few minutes before speaking quietly, knowing that what I say will anger the god.

"Okay look, you can give me all the excuses you want, but nothing can rectify all those lives you took and the chaos you caused. There can be no possible justification for your actions, save that you crave destruction. And trapping me in my bedroom in the middle of the night, demanding me to read you, is certainly not giving me a better impression of you."

Loki leans his face in close to mine as his hands tighten on my face. "No possible justification? What if I tell you that I was born to be a killer, a murderer? It's in my genes, as you humans like to say. For I am not of the Asgardians; I am a Frost Giant, the monsters parents tell their children about at night. All they do is seek bloodshed and war to crave their dark desires. What's more, I was stolen by Odin, the mighty Allfather, 'to unite our kingdoms.' I was taken solely as a bargaining chip, Agent O'Connell. My entire life I have been looked over, passed over, because I am not good enough. My entire life I was set up to be one thing, and one thing only—a reason for Asgard and Jotunheim to be united in peace. But nobody wants a Frost Giant. Nobody loves a Frost Giant. It was all just a lie. Everything, my entire life. Is that not cause enough to want revenge on my perfect brother Thor, Thor who is loved by everyone and everything? Is that not reason enough to seek my own kingdom, to forge my own path? Is that not reason enough to liberate other unfortunate beings from the lives they are unwillingly forced into?"

I gape at Loki in horror. "You speak of _liberating_ us? That's what you call taking away our free will?"

I press my fingertips into Loki's skin, looking in amazement at the colors surrounding him. I see none of the characteristic signs of liars—the anxious colors, the conflict, and most of all the sickly green that marks lying. Instead I see that same dark midnight blue. He truly believes this.

He has convinced himself that he is worthless and that he is only a pawn in the game of others; that nobody truly cares for him as a person, only for the role he can play. He feels trapped, as if he has no choice in his fate. And because of that he wants to take away the free will of others, so that others have to suffer like he does.

Yet even though I pity Loki for feeling so hopefully, I can't help but feel angry at Loki for believing that the only thing he is good for is causing chaos and bloodshed. I am angry at him for thinking that he has a genetic basis to kill people, and that killing another is completely forgivable given who he is.

And that he has a right to condemn others to what he considers a life like his—predestined fate, with no choice.

"No, Loki," I say, feeling my anger rise to the surface. "There is nothing you can say to convince me that your actions were not wrong. There is absolutely no reason to take another life. You acted like a selfish child. I do admit that what Odin did to you was wrong, but that still is not reason for you to act as you did. There is no reason to force your own misfortunes onto others. Knowing your past actions, and especially now that I know the excuses you use to justify those actions, does not engender trust in you. I cannot and will not trust you, for you have given me no reason to do so."

Loki releases my face, hands falling into his lap. He looks away for a moment before staring at me. "You cannot possibly understand," he spits. "I was wrong to think that, because of your ability, you are more likely to be able to empathize with a person and understand my background. But you are just a mortal with an extraordinary ability. You have been blessed. You know no hardship of which to speak of. How can you possibly understand what it's like to be a monster?"

I do not get angry easily, but I couldn't stop my temper from exploding on this occasion. "I do not know hardship? Then you truly know nothing about me, Loki. Maybe if you would stop thinking the entire world is out to get you for a moment and just use your brain, you would realize that you and I are more alike than we appear. Save for the fact that I do not feel the need to take innocent lives and force everybody to the same fate as my own."

I stalk over to the adjoining door and swing it open wildly, nearly knocking myself out in the process. "Get the hell out of my room. Actually, you can just leave in general. We don't need you here. Go back to wherever you came from. Go back home."

Loki stands up and walks to the door, stopping for a moment to look at me. "I have no home, Agent O'Connell. If you had listened to me, you would know that."

* * *

I sleep poorly for the rest of the night, tossing and turning as Loki's final words, "I have no home," haunt my dreams. When I awake the next morning, I feel a bit dirty for having treated him so badly. He was right—I was judging him without getting to know him first.

Which means I need to take a step back and start over with Loki. I need to open up to him which starts by first apologizing to him, even if it grates me to do so.

I get dressed quickly and head downstairs for breakfast, once again finding the dining hall filled with noise and color. I look around for Loki but don't see him; however, I do spot Lars, the man who drove us to the hotel on the first day. He waves me over to sit by him.

I grab some food and then walk over to Lars, who immediately says, "Eat quickly. You and Agent Laufeyson are heading to the excavation site with us today. We discovered something you might find interesting."

I gobble my food and then briskly leave the dining room, grabbing an apple on the way out, intent on telling Loki that we would be leaving soon. I stop as I see him standing in the front hall in his dark leather jacket, his shoes already on.

I fiddle with the apple in my hands as Loki looks at me. "Uh, I was going to tell you that we're leaving, but it appears you already know. Um, this apple is for you, if you want it."

Loki does not answer me but instead opens the door and walks outside.

I stuff the apple into my coat pocket and quickly pull on my shoes, seeing Lars stride out the door shortly after Loki. I follow Lars to a small sedan and hop into the backseat, studiously ignoring Loki as I do so. The first few minutes of the drive pass in silence until I decide I better ask Lars what this is all about.

Staring at my fingernails, I ask Lars carefully, "Lars, do you know the true reason why Loki and I are here?"

I look up from my fingernails just long enough to see Lars' knuckles turn white as he grips the wheel tightly, painfully. Anxious colors surround him; he's scared. No, he's terrified.

"Fury told me. Not everything, I imagine, but enough. I know you're hunting some crazed mythological beings intent on revenge, and that you think they might be attacking here. The others do not know. They think you're just from some agency that investigates suspicious accidents."

"Is that why we're coming to the site?" I ask. "Do you think you found something that could relate to these beings?"

"Yes," he says shortly, ending the conversation. I can tell from the tension emanating from him that he doesn't wish to discuss this any further, so I return to staring absently out the window.

I don't know how much time passes before we turn off the main road onto a dirt road, passing through a small gate. We are soon enveloped in the forest as Lars drives slowly up the mountain.

When we reach a rough parking lot Lars stops the car and jumps out, grabbing a pack off the passenger seat. I step out of the car and run to catch up with Lars, who has not stopped to wait for us.

Lars stops when he reaches a wooden platform overlooking the excavation site, so when I reach him I pause to catch my breath and observe the excavation site. Workers swarm in the pit below us, clearing dirt and mud out of the work site and into big piles on the sides of the site. Other workers stand behind tables to the side, carefully cleaning and examining what look to be artifacts. The site is criss-crossed with makeshift wooden paths. Additional paths lead down into the pit and up the side of the mountain, to the cave where the discovery all started.

Lars abruptly starts walking again towards the side of the site, where some of the tables are positioned. I follow behind, carefully watching where I step. I can tell from the dull sound of footsteps behind me that Loki is trailing me.

Lars halts at a table where workers cluster around an object, talking in hushed voices. As the workers see Lars, Loki, and I approach, they cease talking and move back, giving us an unobstructed view of the artifact.

The artifact is a rectangular chunk of stone, engraved with the letters of an ancient, lost language. The edges crumble due to its ancient age, but other than that, it appears to be in good condition.

Lars motions to the tablet, saying, "We found this yesterday. It's written in a very old language, but Anders has managed to translate some of it. It says…"

"Powerful ones who brought fortune unto our people," Loki reads off the tablet. He steps closer to the tablet, the workers scrambling to get out of his way.

"How high above us you stood, how revered you were in our eyes.

"Trust betrayed, privileges abused, chaos reigned once peaceful lives, and then the heavens came crashing down.

"For your actions you were cast out of paradise, sent into the wastelands of the universe, no soul to speak in your favor. Forever abandoned, forever ridiculed, your past glories erased from memory.

"Your anger burned deep, feeling betrayed by those you had once helped."

Loki stretches his hand out towards the tablet and brushes it with his finger. Even though he's touching, and possibly destroying, an ancient artifact, nobody speaks up to stop him. Everybody seems to wear the same mesmerized expression as I, listening to Loki's translation.

I strain to hear the final words of the passage, Loki's voice having dropped to a whisper. "Now revenge unto us is pledged, and for eternity will your rage last.

"Chaos will rule the land once more until your thirst for blood is quenched."

"Impressive," Anders says, striding up to the group of us clustered around the table.

Loki doesn't move his gaze from the tablet. "They had to learn their language from somewhere."

The colors surrounding us blaze with a sudden onslaught of surprise from all of the gatherers. Apparently nobody had considered that the Norse gods of mythology were more than just myth in those times. Workers hurl questions at Loki, one after the other, until he fixes each worker with a stern gaze. One by one, they stop talking.

Lars says to the workers, "You may resume working. I will talk to Agents O'Connell and Laufeyson alone until we reach a consensus."

The workers nod and trudge off to their duties, many looking unhappy about not having their questions answered. Lars points towards a few benches off to the side. "Wait for me by the red bench. I will be with you shortly."

I lead the way over to the benches, my head spinning with the words of the passage. This certainly gave me something to think about.

Loki fixes me with an odd look then says, "He said the red bench, you know."

I jump up, looking down at the bench. Indeed, I had sat on the wrong bench. I move to the correct bench, saying, "I sincerely doubt he would have cared that I was at the wrong bench. It's not as if the red color is going to help organize our thoughts, or anything."

Loki continues to stand, watching the workers scrambling around. Meanwhile I lose myself in my own thoughts, coming up with numerous conspiracy theories.

When Lars finally joins us, he wastes no time in questioning Loki. "What does it mean? The powerful ones they're talking about, could they be Norse gods?"

"The line 'then the heavens came crashing down' certainly sounds like something Odin would conjure up. But the 'powerful ones' of whom this passage is referencing? I can't say. Certainly none of the gods or goddesses that I know would waste their time plotting revenge against you simple Midgardians, especially since there is little you can do to harm us in the first place."

I think back to what Thor had initially told us about the impending attack. "Loki, Thor mentioned that the beings also vowed revenge on the other realms as well. Remember, it was something about them being abandoned?"

Loki nods. "Abandoned among the black holes, in the deep wastes of space."

I ramble on as I try to reason my way through the situation. "But this could be referencing the same beings then, couldn't it? I mean the passage makes it sound like these beings helped the humans at first, but then turned evil for some reason and started destroying everything. Boom, some powerful gods or whatever intervene and kick out these beings. Do you guys have a god code or something? Maybe they broke that. Whatever. Anyways whatever they did was bad enough for them to be cast out and all knowledge of them erased. Who else has that kind of power except for gods? It would make sense then that the beings would vow revenge on the other realms as well, as they would think that both the humans and the gods betrayed them."

Lars and Loki both nod at me, seeming to accept my argument. "Loki, do you know of any beings that have been cast out before?"

Loki frowns, his forehead crinkling as he thinks. "I have not heard of any such beings. When Thor returns, however, I will talk to him. He can ask the Allfather." With that, Loki nods to Lars and then starts picking his way back to the parking lot, his boots sliding around in the mud.

I tell Lars I'll be back shortly and then scramble after Loki, struggling to keep up with his long strides. "When is Thor coming back?"

"I do not know."

"Well hopefully we can find out more information before he comes back. Loki, where are you going?"

"Back to the hotel."

I stop in amazement. "Are you serious? We just found a major clue to the identity of these beings, and you want to leave?"

"What more can we do?"

"We could investigate here more. We found one reference to these beings, so surely there must be more. Either that or we could head to the libraries to do some research."

Loki calls over his shoulder, "We can do nothing more. The members of the excavation team are far more suited to uncovering information here than we would be, and we could get nowhere in the libraries with the very little information we have to go on. We must continue with your training. That is all we can do for now."

I run up to Loki and grab the back of his shirt, forcing him to turn around and face me. "We have to do something! People will continue to die until we stop them, Loki."

"I care not a whit if more humans die. They mean nothing to me. There is nothing we can do, so drop this futile pursuit." He turns on his heel and walks away, leaving me standing alone in the mud of the dig site.


	8. To Speak of Trust

"What do you want me to do, Agent O'Connell?"

"Send the Avengers here!" I exclaim, frustrated by Fury's seeming lack of understanding. "If you can't get all of them to come, then at least send one person. We need help here."

"Your situation does not warrant sending in the Avengers yet." As I begin to visibly react Fury patiently says, "I realize that Loki has sensed the beings in your vicinity and that you found an old artifact that could be describing the beings. But that's not concrete proof. You still don't know for sure that the beings are causing these suicides, and even if they are, you don't know how they're doing it. There is nothing we can do. I need more information before I can send the Avengers over to you."

"Just one?" I plead.

"Absolutely not. You have Loki."

"Yeah, because he's such a big help," I mutter angrily.

I see Fury calmly link his fingers together and lean towards the computer screen. "Agent O'Connell, the Avengers have their own work to do right now. They are all investigating other suspicious occurrences around the world and trying to find more information about the beings. I know that Loki is not the best partner you could have, but you will have to make do with it. Plus, he's the only one who can teach you. Speaking of which, how is that progressing?"

"Fine. I can sense Loki's emotions when I touch him, but when I drop the physical contact the signals are lost."

"Well it's a start. Keep working on it. Continue to update me, and if you find any more information about these beings or the situation there, let me know and I'll consider sending the Avengers to you."

Fury ends the Skype call as I shove my laptop to the end of the bed. I lean back and stretch out, resting my head against the headboard as I scramble to think of what I can do now.

After Loki and I had read the tablet at the dig site, Lars had driven us back, although he was clearly annoyed at having to shuttle us back to the hotel so soon. Loki had disappeared as soon as we had arrived at the hotel, so I decided to consult with Fury, thinking he might agree with me.

However, it would appear that I was alone in my conviction to do something.

Even though I could see where Loki and Fury were coming from, I was having a hard time just sitting still while more people could be hurt. The sooner this mystery was resolved, the sooner these people would be safe again. There had to be something we could do.

I start as I hear the lock of the adjoining door turn and click softly. The door opens as Loki casually walks into my room.

"I swear to God," I start, but am interrupted by Loki.

"I told you it was a foolish idea."

I sit up, stuffing pillows behind my back for support. "Yeah well, it didn't hurt to try."

Loki leans against the dresser, eyes fixed on my laptop. He nods towards it, saying, "You were communicating to Fury through that machine. How? Can you make a telephone call using it?"

"Have you ever heard of Skype?"

"No."

I motion for Loki to come closer to me as I pull my laptop back towards me and open it. Loki gingerly sits down next to me on the bed as I turn the computer screen towards him.

"It's a computer program that allows you to video chat with people. Or you can also just use audio, though Fury and I were using the video chat."

"Interesting," Loki murmurs, tracing a finger against the webcam. He stares in interest at the computer, wide green eyes trying to take it all in. "What else can you do on this machine?"

"You don't know anything about computers?"

Loki sniffs proudly. "We have no use for such obsolete technology on Asgard. We have our own advanced systems."

I ignore Loki's comment and pull up Google, deciding that I should show Loki the glory of the internet and Midgardian technology. I spend the next hour or so introducing Loki to the basics of computers and while he doesn't retract his former statement about "obsolete technology," I can still tell that he's impressed.

"See, we could use this to look for information about the beings," I tell him after showing him how to use search engines.

"I think you will come up short, but you can try."

I merely roll my eyes. "Okay, so Lars mentioned that they thought the remains were from Norway's Bronze Age. When was that… was it something like 1500-500 BC?"

"1700-500 BC," Loki corrects me.

"Okay, so we'll just look up religion during that time and see if there's any mention of gods coming to earth. What," I exclaim, seeing Loki's exasperated look. "Do you have any better ideas?"

Loki doesn't respond so I ignore him and type "Norway Bronze Age religion" into the Google search engine. I pull up the Wikipedia page that pops up as a search result, figuring it will do for initial information, even if it's not always the most reliable.

I quickly scan through the short page, finding something that immediately sparks my interest. "Look there; do you see that?" I say excitedly, pointing at the page. "It says that there was some indication they worshipped twins. Do you think…?"

Loki shakes his head, immediately crushing my hopes. "Did you not read the rest of the page? The people who lived here had no written language at that time. How could they possibly write that passage then?"

I turn back the page, trying to find any snippets of information that could support my view. "Well it says here that other carvings during this time could be the earliest depictions of the gods later appearing in Norse mythology. So I mean, we think that these beings came to Earth, messed everything up, and the Norse gods intervened. The Norse gods could have then introduced written language to the people afterwards, and that was when the people wrote that passage!"

Loki raises an eyebrow. "That could be possible, but it is still a far reach. We have absolutely no reason to assume that these beings are twins. The beings could be any other gods mentioned later in time. Or they could have appeared earlier and not been mentioned, or all other indications of them lost to history. We cannot think that these beings are these twins so sparsely mentioned in this Wikipedia page."

"Well fine then," I mutter. "Just trying to brainstorm here."

Loki pats my arm comfortingly, although the condescension in his voice is clear. "You tried your best. But now you've realized we can go no further in the investigation, let's return to your training."

I hesitate for a moment before saying, "Wait. Before we start, I just want to say… I'm sorry about last night. You were right; I was judging you unfairly. I do it too often, to be honest. It's just hard when I can sense people's emotions right when I meet them… I can tell a lot from a person just by what they feel in that few moments' time. I realize that you've had some hard times and you are trying to help me, so I'll try to be more open with you and trust you more in the future."

"I accept your apology," he says, inclining his head for a few seconds. "Now that we have that done, we should work on increasing your range with reading my emotions.

"How long was it before you could sense human emotions without touching somebody?"

I frown, trying to think back to when my abilities were just developing. "A few months, I think. The colors were also much weaker at first. But I don't understand how I'm able to increase my range?"

"I believe you're sensing the emotions as signals. Emotions are influenced by a number of factors—mental reactions, physiological reactions, etc. Somehow you are able to unconsciously sense these and your body interprets them as colors, right? We talked about that earlier. Now I believe you can increase your range because you become more sensitive to feeling these signals that others are sending out. You have to be close or have physical contact at first, but once you learn to recognize the signals, then you can sense them from a greater distance.

"You still appear to need physical contact with me, but let's try changing the contact after initially establishing it." Loki touches my temples until I tell him I can see the colors, then he drops his hands from my face and pulls mine away from his. He wraps his long fingers around my hands, settling them into his lap.

"What emotions do you sense now?"

I look at Loki, finding that although the colors are dimmer, I can still sense them. "You're comfortable, but not happy. You're impatient, although I can't tell why. And of course the grief is still there."

Loki's fingers trail down my own until he reaches my fingertips. He touches the tip of one index finger with my own, making that one small area the only touch of physical contact between us. "And now?"

I stare at Loki for a few seconds, making out small traces of blue floating and swirling around him. "Yes, but I can hardly see it."

Loki shrugs. "In time you will be able to see them better. We should probably hold this contact for some time longer so that you can get used to it. Once you can read my emotions easily through this contact, then you can probably sense them when there is no physical contact."

We remain in this position for a few minutes, awkwardly trying to avoid eye contact and remaining quiet. When the colors still have not brightened after a few minutes, Loki flattens his entire palm against mine. The colors instantly clear and jump into view, with the dark blue dominating over all the others.

"Such sadness," I murmur to myself. "It's always there…"

Loki peers at me, squinting his eyes. "Does it make you sad?" he says, his tone a mixture of scorn and disbelief.

"It makes me unbelievably sad. I've never felt such sadness from anybody before."

I suddenly drop Loki's hands as the intensity of the sadness increases, the colors brightening and the blue blanket surrounding Loki expanding in diameter. I feel Loki's sadness start to penetrate my own emotions, much like the first time I had touched Loki. I close my eyes against the garish colors and focus on taking deep breaths, conjuring up happy memories to drown out the sadness. When I finally recover, I look up to see Loki watching me.

"You felt that?" he asks.

"You purposely did that?" I sputter angrily. "That was mean."

Loki shrugs, not appearing to care. "I wanted to see if you could be influenced by others' emotions."

"You could have just asked," I mutter, throwing Loki a dirty glare.

Loki takes my hands again, rubbing his thumbs against my skin soothingly. "I need to test you. You might be capable of more than you know."

Before I have time to say, "Well that sounds ominous," I become overwhelmed with feelings of grief. Loki's emotions move outwards until they merge with my own, the tendrils of blue brushing against me as I feel Loki's sadness battling against my emotions. The pure strength of his feelings easily overwhelms my own, and before long I feel myself tumbling into that dark hole of depression.

I unconsciously grasp my face with my hands, digging the heels of my palms into my cheeks as if physical pain can help me escape from this emotional pit. Through the haze I can hear Loki command, "Fight against it. Send happiness out into our bond. Project your emotions onto me."

I try and struggle against the storm of emotions, but it's a losing battle. Before long they consume my entire body. My eyes shut of their own accord and I struggle to breathe, feeling as if I am drowning. I see stars as pain ripples throughout my limbs. Through it all Loki continues to talk to me, gently prying my hands from my face and holding them in his own, squeezing them gently as if trying to bring me back.

Suddenly the surge of emotions fades. I open my eyes, amazed to see that all the blue has retreated. As I sigh, relieved it's all over, I am just as quickly bombarded by feelings of worthlessness and disappointment.

I try and pull my hands from Loki's grasp, intent on escaping this emotional agony. He continues to grip me tightly, not letting me leave. I can see him staring at me, commanding me to project onto him, but I can't do it. It's too much.

"Please stop," I whisper, barely managing to choke the words out as my eyes close. It takes everything I have to tell him this, so I begin to panic when I don't feel the barrage of emotions lessen.

My entire body starts writhing as it tries to escape from the source of danger. Fighting against a god is an impossible task, however, and I make no progress in escaping from him.

As I struggle to keep tears from spilling down my cheeks I hear Loki say, almost as if to himself, "Pathetic human. I should have known she was not good enough."

Despite the fact that I'm besides myself with pain, the comment registers in my brain and a spark of anger flares. As his words replay in my head, stuck on repeat, the spark grows and develops into rage.

How dare he not think me good enough. How dare he do this to me.

"You bastard," I grit through my teeth, summoning all my rage and imagining myself thrusting it onto him, putting every last bit of energy I have into doing so. I feel all his emotions stop, leaving me in peace, as I flop backwards against the bed. I sigh in relief and close my eyes, enjoying the comforting feel of fabric against my face.

I am rudely brought out of my bliss by a low chuckle. I open my eyes to see Loki looking at me in delight. "Excellent. That was even better than I thought."

"Just leave," I croak out, doing my best to ignore Loki's presence. I flinch as he gently lays a hand on my hair and strokes it, but to my relief I don't feel any of his emotions pressing at me.

"I sincerely apologize for having to do something so cruel to you. I wish I could have avoided it, but I had felt that only an extreme circumstance would enable you to try something so radical. Had I not put so many painful emotions on you, you would not have had reason enough to react."

"You speak of trust."

"I promise you that I will not do something so drastic again, and I should have no reason to. Now that you've unlocked this new ability of yours, I believe you will not have any such difficulties in accessing it again. You just needed a trigger to unlock it."

We lapse into silence as Loki stops talking, me too exhausted to argue with him. After a few moments he speaks up again.

"Was it painful?"

"Yes," I whisper. "Not only was I unbelievably sad, but the emotions were so much that I just think I went into sensory overload, or something. I couldn't see, I couldn't hear; even my sense of touch was diminished. The emotions took over everything and the sensation was so much that I couldn't stand it. And you refused to stop, even though I asked you," I accuse him.

Loki's hand stops moving for a moment as he says, "If it's any consolation, I can relate."

"Oh, can you? You know what it's like to be so flooded with emotions that it hurts?"

"I know what it's like to have someone inflicting pain on you, even when you ask him to stop. I know what it's like to feel helpless."

I open my eyes a crack to look at Loki, wanting to see his emotions as I ask him a potentially painful question. "Loki, Thor mentioned that he thought you were tortured under some god named Vidar. Is this true?"

I see a quick flare of anger and pain before the colors immediately disappear. I gingerly sit up, wary of moving my head too quickly, and take Loki's hands in my own. To my surprise, the colors still don't appear. Loki avoids meeting my eyes, looking down at the floor next to the bed.

"Loki?"

Loki raises his head and meets my eyes as he drops my hands and draws his in close to his chest. As he crosses his arms over his chest, I read his body language, seeking to replace the information that I cannot otherwise receive. He's closing himself to me; not answering my question. It's something he doesn't want to talk about.

I slowly lift my hand and reach out to his shoulder, giving him time to withdraw if he wants. "Loki, if you talk to me I can help you. Stop closing yourself off."

He shrugs my hand off and narrows his eyes at me. "There is nothing you can do to help me."

"I can't sense your emotions now, even when I touch you. Are you blocking me somehow?"

"Yes, I'm shielding myself. It's not something that should be a new concept to you," he says coldly. "I've noticed that you tend to shield your emotions and feelings from others as well, although of course not to the extent that I can. Know that if you get it in your mind to try and fix me by digging below the surface, I will block you. No matter how skilled you get in reading my emotions, you will never get behind that barrier."

Loki nods curtly at me, saying, "We will continue this later. I will see you at dinner," before walking into his room, slamming the door shut.

* * *

I spend the few hours before dinner browsing the internet obsessively, trying to find any more information on the beings. Although I come up short, I feel better about having tried to do something. I also spend some time going through the massive pile of e-mails in my inbox. Apparently everybody was freaking out with me in Norway.

I reply to the last e-mail just as I smell delicious scents wafting up the staircase. I put my laptop aside and head downstairs into the dining room. It appears the food has just been set out, as everybody is lined up against the side wall. I see Anders near the back of the line so I go to stand by him.

"Did you find anything else today?" I ask him.

Anders shrugs. "It's possible. We found nothing relating to religion, however, or else I would have been consulted. I just spent most of the day trying to find any information relating to that passage we showed you."

"Did you come up with anything?" I ask him, feeling hope grow once again.

"No, and I did not expect to. The passage is very vague, so it could be describing any number of things. It could also be a metaphor for something. We just aren't sure at this point."

Well, that was a downer, but a thought occurs to me. "Hey Anders, have you heard about twins the Norse people supposedly worshipped during the Bronze Age?"

Having reached the tables topped with steaming food, Anders starts scooping potatoes onto his plate. "Yes, although there are very few sources with information about these twins. Not much is known about them. But the worship of twins makes sense, as many people during those times respected the duality found in nature."

"Do you know where I could find more information about them? I just happened across them online and my curiosity was piqued," I say, seeing suspicion bloom in the space surrounding Anders.

"Well, like I said, not much is known about them. You could try going to the Alta rock carvings, though, and looking for anything interesting there. There are a lot of carvings from different time periods so who knows; you might see something relating to twins."

Having reached the end of the food banquet, I follow Anders over to an empty table and sit across from him. We strike up a pleasant conversation, mostly centering around how I feel about Norway so far.

"You know, we—the team members—are watching a movie together tonight. You and Agent Laufeyson are welcome to join us, if you want. The movie is dubbed in Norwegian but we could put on the English subtitles for you two."

"Yeah, that would be great!" I say, genuinely excited. "I think we could both do with a distraction to take our minds off things. What movie are we watching?"

"The Ring," Anders says, smiling at me.

"Seriously? You guys are going to watch a scary movie with all these strange suicides happening?"

Anders shrugs. "It's just made up anyways. But we all like scary movies, so we decided to watch that one. Still interested?"

I look down at my food, trying to mask my emotions. "Yeah, for sure. I'll ask Loki if he'll come too."

Anders and I finish eating and then clear our plates from the table. Anders joins some Norwegians engaged in an intense conversation while I head upstairs to find Loki.

I knock on Loki's door and push it open when I hear his faint response. I see him sitting on his bed legs neatly crossed at the ankle, an open book resting in his lap. "Yes?" he asks, seeming a little annoyed that I bothered him.

"You missed dinner; are you hungry?" When he shakes his head I continue on. "The Norwegians are going to watch a movie and I was thinking of joining them. Would you like to come?"

Loki shrugs but climbs out of the bed, walking over to me. "I suppose. I have not had much time to study Midgardian cinema before. What is the movie about?"

"Uh, it's a scary movie," I say. "I've never seen it before so I'm not sure of the exact plot, but I think it's supposed to be pretty good."

Loki follows me as we head downstairs into the basement, where we find the Norwegians sitting on the floor, clustered around a TV. There is not much space left open, so Loki and I sit down near the back wall, squished next to each other.

"Um, just an FYI," I whisper to Loki as the credits start rolling. "I don't really like scary movies… they freak me out quite a bit. So don't be surprised if I get a little… grabby."

Loki chuckles deeply. "You, afraid of something? I am rather looking forward to this movie now."

I do fine for most of the movie, somehow managing to keep myself together, even though I end up wrapping my arms around my legs to comfort myself.

But then the end of the movie nears. One of the main characters, Noah, turns off his TV and starts to walk away. When he's only gone a few steps, however, the TV turns back on again. The camera moves in closer to show a well on the screen.

"Oh no," I murmur, clutching my knees even tighter to my chest.

Just then a hand comes out of the well and Samara, the antagonist, crawls out of the well. As she walks closer to the screen it distorts, the tape sometimes skipping out and jumping ahead a few seconds. Samara walks up to the screen and then starts to walk through it, crawling out of the TV screen towards Noah.

I thrust my hand out towards Loki, seeking comfort from another. I look at Loki, my eyes wide with fright, as he takes my hand into his own. He strokes my hand soothingly as I mutter, "Shit, run Noah, run!" seeing Noah try and back away from Samara, tripping and falling. Suddenly Samara jumps forward a few feet and I close my eyes shut, biting the knuckles of my free hand. I keep my eyes closed for the rest of the scene, not wanting to see Noah's death and regretting watching a scary movie when I knew it would bother me so much.

I then become aware of Loki's hand grasping my own. Warmth flows from his skin to mine as I feel the fear begin to abate. Before long all the anxiety and tension leaves my body and is replaced with comfort, with happiness. Meanwhile Loki continues to trace circles on my hand with his thumb.

I realize then that Loki is sending happiness to me through our physical contact to make me less fearful. I open my eyes and send him a grateful look, mouthing, "Thank you."

Loki merely leans in close to me and whispers, "Nothing can harm you while I'm here."


	9. A Dream in Color

"I don't suppose you can drive, can you?"

Loki looks up from the dirty little sedan we're standing next to. "You cannot drive us?"

"I mean I could, but given that I don't have a driver's license and driving without one is illegal…" I shrug. Loki holds out his hand so I give him the car keys and then walk over to the passenger's seat. I throw my bag in and sit down, buckling my seatbelt as Loki also climbs in the car. He looks over the controls for a few moments before turning the ignition.

"It does not look too difficult," he says as he backs out of the parking lot.

"Hold up," I say, grabbing his arm. "You haven't driven a car before?"

Loki stops the car and looks at me. "You think we have these poisonous, ugly metal beasts on Asgard?"

"Fair point. But then, no Loki, stop driving the car!" I exclaim as Loki resumes backing up the car.

"Stop worrying, mortal. No harm will befall you today," he says as he shifts the car into drive. The car and its occupants lurch forward when he gives it too much gas, and I brace myself against the car door. I glare at Loki who ignores me and, this time, smoothly drives it onto the road.

"Dude, you can't drive us to the rock carvings. Not only do you not have a driver's license, which is illegal by the way, but you are for sure going to crash us if you've never done—Christ!" I shout as Loki turns the steering wheel too hard around the corner, nearly sending us flying off the road.

"We will be fine," Loki reassures me, although I do not believe him. I decide to stop arguing with him and let him focus on the road as I instead grip the seat tightly, my knuckles turning white with the pressure. We drive in silence as Loki follows Anders' instructions to the site of the carvings.

When we arrive, amazingly in one piece, I quickly scramble out of the car. "We're taking the bus back," I call over my shoulder as I start marching over towards the museum, knowing Loki will follow. I enter the building and then buy us both entry to the site. When Loki finally catches up I stick the entry sticker on his shirt. He looks down at it and opens his mouth as if to say anything, but seemingly decides against it.

"Let's go through the exhibits first," I tell Loki. "We might find something among the artifacts, and then afterwards we can go search through the rock carvings."

Loki quietly follows behind me as I wander through the exhibits. We quickly pass through the first exhibits, detailing some of the earliest settlements, knowing that date before the time period we're interested in. When we reach the Bronze Age section we stop and intently read the descriptions next to the exhibits.

After a few moments Loki says, "They do not mention the twins here. I'm afraid we may be out of luck."

I start to nod, also having found nothing, but then something catches my eye. "Hey come here," I say as I motion Loki over. When he joins me I point to a pair of bronze instruments that resemble horns.

I read off the sign to Loki, "'These instruments, called lurs, were popular instruments in the Bronze Age and afterwards. Lurs discovered from the Bronze Age were made out of bronze, while more recent lurs from the Middle Ages were made of wood. They were often found in pairs.'

"So first, note that they were found in pairs. Doesn't that indicate twins?" I ask Loki, continuing on before he has a chance to speak. "And also," I say a little smugly, "look at the engraving on the pair of lurs here. It's a pair of stick figures, Loki—twins!"

"That doesn't necessarily mean it's the twins we're concerned with," Loki says. "All twins, divine or not, were probably considered to some degree sacred or blessed because they represented duality. This could just be a celebration of twins and duality in general. But they do appear to be holding something; do you see it?"

I peer closer at the lurs, my nose almost touching the glass case. I can just barely make out a round object held between the twins. "Is it important?" I ask, looking at Loki. "What do you think it is?"

Loki shrugs. "I have not the faintest idea. It could be nothing, and it probably is nothing. I see no reason to see that this relates to the beings we're searching for." So saying this, he stalks off and moves on to the next exhibits.

I sigh. What a Debbie downer.

Loki flits through the remaining exhibits, backtracking to inform me that he found nothing relevant. Impatiently, he tells me we should move on to the rock carvings, so I follow him outside into the lukewarm Norwegian summer.

"I should have brought an umbrella," I say as a few small raindrops hit my face. I look up at the sky and seeing only clouds, mumble that we're in for another downpour. I pull the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head, hoping that it will do for the meantime.

Loki turns his collar up against the wind but otherwise ignores the weather as he strides off towards the rock wall. He stops at the leftmost point and expectantly looks back at me.

"Well let's begin, shall we?"

We spend the next few hours carefully examining all of the carvings, looking for any sign of twins. I see countless reindeer, salmon, boats, and people engaging in various everyday activities, but no divine twins.

"Damn," I mutter as I turn around, resting my back against a wooden railing, leaving Loki to finish examining the rest of the paintings. "I had hoped we would find something."

Loki finishes looking at the paintings and walks over to me, mirroring my position. "We'll find something eventually," he says optimistically. "But for now we are no further than we were yesterday, which means the only thing we can do now is continue your training."

I send Loki a startled look. "Here? You want to do that now, in front of all these tourists?"

Loki nods. "It is the perfect opportunity with all these people here. You need to learn to project onto people. You were able to do it with me yesterday, but that was only because I pressed you to do so. You need to learn to project when you're in a nonthreatening situation with people who are strangers to you."

"But why?" I ask. "I don't understand why I need to learn to project."

"Just think. We believe that the beings are somehow causing the suicides. We don't understand how they're doing it, but given that suicide is such an emotionally linked action, it seems likely that they're corrupting peoples' emotions or influencing them in some way. If you could project happiness onto somebody who is becoming suicidal, you could potentially reverse their path. You could save them."

My forehead crinkles as I squint at Loki, thinking through what he's told me. It seems like a bit of a stretch to me, and with a lot of speculation to boot, but I suppose it's worth a try.

"Fine. So how do we start?"

Loki says nothing but instead walks over to a bench, where he sits down. I follow, berating myself for always blindly following him, but sit next to him anyways.

"Try projecting onto me first. It should be easier since you're familiar with me."

I hesitate, unsure of how to begin. "What should I project onto you?"

"Anything you naturally feel. If you're happy, then share your happiness with me. If you're bored, then share your boredom with me. Anything will do, as long as you don't have to strain to feel it yourself. Make me feel as you do now. Do you remember how you projected onto me yesterday? Just try doing that again."

I close my eyes and take mental note of how I'm feeling right now. Content, at ease, comfortable. I try to imagine myself shrouded in these colors; Kelly green and yellow swirling around me, intertwining with each other. I imagine this as much as I can, almost seeing it before my eyes, and then I picture myself gathering it up and throwing it towards Loki.

I see the green and gold merge into Loki's blue, warring with each other for control. The green and gold cover Loki completely before dissipating into the air above him.

Loki looks at me and smiles. "Very good. You are a fast learner. With more practice, you could control your emotions to stay with me for longer, but for now that will do. Now try with some of the tourists wandering around here. It will probably be a little harder, since you are not familiar with them, but just keep trying."

I see a middle-aged woman standing near the rock carvings, examining them intently as her husband keeps an eye on their playful younger children. I automatically take note of her emotions, seeing that she's in a good mood, and then I visualize myself surrounded by colors. Once again I toss them towards her, feeling satisfaction as they merge and stick to her own colors before fading away to nothing.

"I did it!" I say to Loki, turning towards him and clapping my hands together with pure joy. Loki nods as he says, "Do you notice that projecting has made you better able to sense emotions?"

I carefully look around at the tourists, seeing that the colors have increased in intensity just a bit since I projected onto the woman. I nod and then look at Loki, realizing that I can now see his emotions without touching him. Even though they are barely discernible, if I strain my eyes hard enough I can tell he's still shrouded in grief, although there is a spark of happiness forming.

"I can see your emotions now too," I tell him.

"That's good. I think you'll find that with practice, it will become easier for you to project onto others. You won't have to think about it so much, and you'll be able to do it from farther distances. You'll also be able to project emotions that you yourself are not experiencing and you can learn to make them stick longer. But I think for now that's enough; let's head back to the hotel for dinner."

I walk companionably with Loki back to the car, but as soon as I see it I stop dead in my tracks, suddenly remembering that Loki has to drive us back.

"So, we're taking the bus back, right?" I say jokingly as I bounce on the balls of my feet.

Loki grins and motions to the car. "You survived the way here, so surely going back won't be so bad."

I groan but climb into the car, bracing myself as Loki zooms out of the parking lot. I spend most of the drive staring out the window, watching the countryside pass by.

At one point Loki says, "Hey Agent O'Connell." When I look at him he takes his hands off the steering wheel, eyes still on my face, and says, "Look, no hands!"

I curse and grab the steering wheel, hoping that we won't drive off the road. Loki grabs the steering wheel again and I reluctantly let go, not wanting to put my life back in the hands of this madman.

"You'll excuse me for not trusting a god who wouldn't die if he got in a car accident," I huff under my breath.

I see Loki smile as he turns his eyes back to the road. After a few more minutes we pull into the parking lot of the hotel and hop out of the car, both of us eager for dinner.

Dinner passes by uneventfully, although Anders invites Loki and I on a walk through the wilderness that night, to see the glory of Norwegian nature under the midnight sun. I cheerfully agree, and to my surprise Loki does as well.

After dinner we all pull on our shoes and coats and then walk into the backyard, heading down a worn trail leading up into the mountains. As the trail is wide enough for two to walk abreast, we all split up and walk by another person, Loki and I falling in step towards the back of the pack. We walk in silence for most the trek, Loki content to be sullen and me content to look at the beauty surrounding us. When I grow bored with peering through the forest, I help pass the time by feeling emotions and trying to project a little.

When we finally reach the end of the trail, at the apex of one of the little mountains near the hotel, we all stop for a minute to admire the view looking over part of the fjord. I look out over the water for a few moments but then wander off to the side, massaging my forehead as I feel a painful headache coming on.

The pain increases steadily for the next few minutes. As my head explodes with pain I double over, grasping my head tightly with my hands. As I do so, I become aware that this is not a normal headache. It was brought on by emotional overload, much like what I had experienced with Loki the night before.

But this time it was not caused by Loki. Behind the pain I can feel the emotions of five, ten, people, all of them honing in on me. This is even worse than when Loki had overwhelmed me with emotions because this time, I was being hit by the emotions of multiple people. Behind the emotions I could sense the essence, the personality of, the person sending the messages. It was like everybody trying to crawl into my head at the same time. Not only do I feel blinded by the harsh glare of the emotions, but I can feel them pulling at me, trying to influence me. Like everybody was projecting their emotions onto me simultaneously, rather than me projecting my emotions onto them.

It's too much. I can't handle all the colors blinding my vision, all the emotions trying to worm their way into my head and heart. Tears prick my eyes as the force of the emotions becomes painful. I can't handle it.

I fall to my knees, unable to bear my own weight. I gradually become aware of a light touch on my back, of a voice speaking soothing words to me. I try to concentrate on the words, on the feeling of a hand against my shirt, but the feeling of other people is too overwhelming and one that I can't fight off.

After a few moments of agony, I realize that the hand on my back is applying pressure, trying to get me to move. I want to scream at the person that it's too much, I can hardly keep a hold on my mind let alone walk, but I can't even manage to talk. Eventually the hand drops from my back and I once again feel alone.

Then I feel arms wrap behind my knees and am vaguely aware of being lifted and moved somewhere else. I feel the person set me gently down on the ground, leaning me back against a tree. The emotions I sense from other people begin to lessen, until eventually I can form coherent words.

I open my eyes a crack to see Loki crouching in front of me, concern etched across his face. "Agent O'Connell, what is the matter?"

"Too much color," I mumble. "Too much."

I hear Loki curse softly under his breath. "I pushed you too far today. I overextended you and forced you to open up. Now you're feeling overwhelmed because the colors are more intense?"

"Invading… my emotions…" I manage to croak out.

Loki nods. "Close your eyes, Agent O'Connell."

When I hesitate, Loki says, "You are safe here with me."

I close my eyes, shutting out the visual form of the colors, though I can still feel them pushing at me. I feel Loki's skin brush against mine as he seeks out my hand. Without a word, he takes it and gently holds it in his own as he moves to sit directly next to me.

In an instant, I feel the force of the emotions leave me. It's a breath of fresh air in contrast to the moments of panic before. I relax, leaning my head back against the tree.

"Praise the lord," I murmur.

"You're welcome," I hear Loki say wryly.

My eyes fly open as I register what Loki says. "You're stopping me from feeling the emotions?"

"Yes. As you have already noticed, I can shield myself. I merely extended my shield to you to help you block out others' emotions."

I take a deep breath then look Loki in the eyes and say, "Thank you, Loki. Truly."

Loki says nothing in response, only looks into the distance over the fjord. I close my eyes and listen to the sounds of nature—the birds chirping in the trees, the rustle of the leaves in the wind, the flow of a nearby stream. The gentle music of the wild helps to further relax me and soothe the pains of the intense emotional overflow.

"My greatest wish is to dream in color," I say quietly.

"What?" Even though my eyes are shut, I can sense that Loki has turned and is looking at me.

"You said earlier that I don't trust you, and that I won't improve my abilities until I learn to do so. So I'm extending my trust to you by sharing some of my secrets and desires."

When Loki says nothing, I continue. "If I could dream just once in color, I would be satisfied. Even though I know it's impossible, it doesn't keep me from hoping. When I was young, I would pray to God…" I think about who I'm talking to and quickly amend my statement, "Or whoever else was listening. I would ask that I dream in color, just one time. Yet time and time again I woke up in the morning, departing from my colorless dream world. I resorted to begging, crying, and bribery when my continued prayers failed. But nothing worked. My colorless childhood dreams slowly faded into colorless adolescent dreams, and then into colorless adult dreams. By now I have long since given up both praying and belief in a God, but the hope that I might dream in color never dies. Even after twenty-four years of black-and-white dreams, much like the old motion pictures, I still go to bed every night thinking that this one night might be special.

"Just once…" I whisper longingly, almost forgetting that someone is sitting right beside me.

Loki squeezes my hand and gently leans his shoulder into mine. I take the proffered support as a sign to continue. "I know you think I've had an easy life, and I'm sure I have compared to others, but it hasn't been a complete cakewalk. Being able to sense people's feelings, to know when people are lying, makes it nearly impossible for me to trust people. I rarely make friends because I truly know how people feel about me. And believe me, what people say is considerably different from what they're feeling.

"It also makes it difficult for me to have a romantic relationship with anybody." I laugh humorlessly as the bitter memories start flooding in. "Before my abilities developed, I was dating this guy named Gavin. I thought I was in love with Gavin. He was perfect to me.

"But as they say, good things can't last forever. My abilities developed some time after that, and I realized that this entire time I had been dating Gavin—four years, Loki!—he had been using me, cheating on me, lying to me. He would say 'I love you' and I would just see green flare up around him. He didn't mean it and he never had. At that moment my heart broke and I told myself I would not be so soft and foolish the next time. Especially since now I could tell when people were being sincere.

"At that time I became what Stark calls me, an ice queen. I closed myself off from everybody. I try not to show my emotions since I see how easily others transmit theirs. Oh sure, I've been in other relationships, but they never lasted. Everybody lies eventually, and knowing you're dating someone who lies to your face about loving you, just…

"I've also been used for my talents," I say quietly, my throat threatening to close. "I've been forced to tell when somebody is lying; I've turned people against each other. I've broken up relationships from what I've been made to reveal."

We fall into silence as I stop talking. Though Loki says nothing, I appreciate him staying after I've dropped such a load on him.

Suddenly he speaks up. "But you're strong. You can go through that and still be yourself. Do not give up hope, Agent O'Connell. You will dream in color yet."

I look at Loki, a genuine smile lighting up my face. I squeeze his hand gently and say, almost shyly, "Call me Callie."

"Callie," Loki repeats, smiling back at me. "I dropped the shield; do you still feel okay?"

"I feel marvelous," I tell him, wondering why I'm suddenly feeling giddy.

"Caroline," Loki whispers, maintaining steady eye contact with me. With his free hand, he reaches up and gently brushes his thumb against my cheek. "Thank you for trusting me."

I suddenly become aware of how close Loki is to me. He is just a few inches away from my face, one hand wrapped around mine, the other tenderly stroking my face. His lips twinge in a slight smile before he closes his eyes and then slowly leans in towards me.

I close my eyes in response, unconsciously tuning in to my other senses as my vision is cut off. I feel a gentle breeze against my face and the slight chill of Loki's skin, just as I smell the light peppermint scent coming off of Loki. The sounds of nature still surround us, although they've quieted now.

But I don't feel any emotions.

With Loki's lips just a breath away from mine, I whisper, "I can't."

Loki pulls away sharply. "You trusted me enough to tell me your history and your deepest desires, so why do you now refuse me?"

I turn my head from Loki and look down at the grass we're sitting on. I play with some of the strands as I say, "You're hiding your emotions from me. You know that I have trust issues, so how do you expect me to trust you when I know that you're hiding your emotions from me?"

Loki grimaces as he turns his head to the side. Speaking softly, he says, "You don't want to know the full truth of my emotions. It would be too much for you to handle, as you demonstrated with your little incident back there."

"Try me," I say, goading him on.

Loki holds eye contact for me for a few long seconds before he gives me a short nod. "Very well then."

Slowly I see dark blue begin to seep out around Loki. It continues to grow outwards, tentacles of color reaching towards me, as it increases in intensity. I squint my eyes against the glare but vow myself to keep my eyes open, no matter how intense it gets. I need to show Loki that he can trust me with all of his dark secrets.

I look more closely at the lesser colors swirling in the dark blue mixture, now having the chance to closely analyze Loki's emotional state. Black and green, regret and jealousy, spiral together in the midst of the blue cloud. Occasionally streaks of orange, frustration, flash through the mixture. But lurking under the mix of all of this hatred and sadness is dark maroon, the color of blood—the feeling of pain, both physical and emotional, pain that has not healed despite weeks of relief, pain that threatens to scar forever.

I place one hand gently on Loki's cheek, wincing as the colors increase when I make physical contact. I try and ignore the strong pull of Loki's emotions and close my eyes, summoning up all the happiness and love I can muster. I let it drain out from me into Loki, trying to wipe away all the scars of his past, trying to heal him.

When the emotions have left me and cover Loki, I will them to stay there and erase away all the hate emanating from him. I see the positive emotions war with the negative ones; each fighting to remain in control. Although my positive emotions eventually lose, fading away and leaving all that dark blue clinging to Loki, I am satisfied to see that the blue is not quite so intense. All the negative colors are faded, and now there are small sparks of yellow lighting up the dark blue sky.

"Oh Loki," I murmur, leaning my forehead against his. "I wish I could help you."

"You already have."


	10. Spelunking

"Are you planning on sleeping through the next century?"

I lift my head a few inches off the pillow and blink rapidly to clear my eyes, seeing Loki sitting on the opposite side of my bed. He looks at me disapprovingly.

"Time?" I mumble groggily, rolling over to look at the clock.

"Well past noon."

I groan and flip onto my stomach, burying my face in the pillow. Even though I feel well-rested, I don't want to leave the comfort of my bed or the safety of my plain, colorless dreams.

"While I understand that yesterday was taxing, we do have a problem to deal with today."

I turn my face to the side and rest it on the pillow, keeping my eyes closed. "What's up? Was breakfast not cooked to your satisfaction this morning?"

"You will have blood on your hands very soon if you do not open your eyes."

"I'm sorry, what?" I exclaim, my eyes flying open in shock as I struggle to sit up. I look at Loki carefully to try and gauge his emotions but find that he is blocking me. Instead I look to his body language; based on the rigid way he's sitting and the way he is closing off his body from me, he seems annoyed. He also seems cold and distant, as if he wants nothing more to do with me.

"How closely have you been monitoring the team members for any sudden emotional changes?"

I stare at Loki, not quite understanding. "I look at them every day, both at breakfast in the morning and when they return from the dig site at night. I haven't noticed anything strange. Are you implying that I am slacking in my duties?"

"I am more than implying, I am outright accusing you. You are the human most able to deal with this unique situation and yet you are missing the truth which is so clearly laid out in front of you."

"Which is what, exactly? Just spit it out!"

Loki glares at me, not happy with my impatience. "I fear one of the team members, a young female named Inga, is becoming suicidal."

I gape at Loki, coherent sentences refusing to form in my mind. After a few seconds I manage to make out, "That can't be possible. I'm telling you, I haven't noticed anything different."

"She could not have developed these feelings overnight. They are too strong and run too deep to have developed in anything less than a fortnight."

"Loki, I…." I shake my head, trailing off. I stare at my hands, folded in my lap, tracing the lines on my palms as guilt floods through me.

Loki sits on my bed silently, watching me with interest. Eventually he says, "If this is true, that you did not see these feelings develop despite doing your duty, then it is possible that the situation is more grim than we imagined."

"What do you mean?"

"If the beings are indeed causing these suicides and they are now able to do so in such a way that escapes your notice, then they are growing in power. This is dire, given that we still know nothing about them that can aid us in overthrowing them."

I cradle my head in my hands. "We need to find more information. We should alert the Avengers too, and get them here to help us."

"You still cannot understand," Loki says sharply. "Fury will not send the Avengers here until we are certain that the beings are causing these suicides. We still have no definite proof. There could be some outside factor influencing these people. Besides, there is little those brawny, small-minded mortals could do in a mental situation such as this. They would merely get in the way."

"Well then what do you suggest?" I snap.

"You now have the ability to project, although you lack mastery of the skill. Still, your limited experiences should be enough to allow you influence over her emotions. You have the opportunity here to cleanse her of suicidal feelings and project happiness and love onto her. If you can do this successfully, she might make a full recovery without other help. Of course, there are no guarantees it will work, but I believe it is the next logical step."

I shake my head. "We should get a professional to help her."

"Have you such little faith in your abilities that you do not believe you could make her situation a little better? Do you truly believe that a normal human can help her more than you? Get your head out of the clouds, Agent O'Connell. You are this woman's best chance for survival."

"So what, now her fate is entirely resting in my hands? We will get nobody else to help her?"

"We will not. If the beings are growing this powerful, a 'professional' will do no good. It is best to not involve any outsiders."

I get up from the bed and move towards the window, rubbing my temples as I stare outside. After some contemplation I say, "I will do it. But you have to guide me. I don't have a good enough grasp on this to try it myself."

I turn around to see I am alone. I sigh and rest my forehead against the window, the glass cold against my skin. I think back to the night before, how we walked back to the hotel after our little heart-to-heart. How I had collapsed as soon as the hotel came into sight, completely drained of all energy. How Loki had wrapped one arm behind my legs and the other under my back, picking me up and cradling me in his arms as he carried me into the hotel, to my bed. How he had gently folded back the sheets and laid me underneath, stroking my cheek as he whispered, "Sweet dreams, Callie."

Something had happened since last night, something more than Inga. Inga alone could not have changed his attitude towards me so abruptly.

Something was up.

* * *

I am interrupted a few hours later by a knock on the door. I look up to see Loki cracking the door open, keeping his body carefully outside my room.

"The workers have returned for dinner. We should see to Inga immediately."

He strides quickly down the staircase, me following behind more slowly. As Loki enters the dining room he draws me close, nodding towards a short-haired woman enveloped in a cluster of young Norwegians. "That one there is Inga. We will eat dinner first, then approach her. We would do best not to draw too much unwanted attention to ourselves, just as it would be best to not frighten the other team members."

Loki walks away, grabbing his food and then sitting between Anders and another Norwegian, effectively isolating me from him. I sit on Anders' other side, exchanging polite conversation with him throughout dinner.

When the Norwegians slowly start filtering out of the dining room into other parts of the hotel, Loki stands up and without a word to me, walks over to Inga. I watch him talk to her, donning a polite smile while exuding charm.

I pull my eyes away from Loki as Anders clears his throat. "So Agent O'Connell, some of us are going on a hiking trip in the near future. We do not have any definite plans, but we're thinking we'll hike some kilometers into the mountains from here and then stay overnight in a cabin. The next day we would return to here. Would you be tentatively interested in coming? I could pass more details on to you as we figure out our plans."

"Sure! That sounds like a lot of fun." I look over towards Loki again, adding, "I'll ask Loki if he'll come, too."

"Oh," Anders says, sounding quite disappointed. "I was um, well I was kind of hoping that you might come without Loki."

I quickly assess Anders' emotions, not having previously noticed any particular attachment to me. The colors remain about the same as they've always been, with blue predominating. I can find no traces of either pink or purple, which would indicate either love or lust for me.

So why doesn't he want Loki to come then?

I choose my next words carefully. "Is there a certain reason why you don't want Loki to come with?"

"I mean, he's more than welcome to come. I was just hoping that I might have the chance to talk to you alone, as he's always around you when we're here."

Something isn't quite checking out with me, but before I have time to investigate further, Anders moves on to a different subject.

"Look, just think about it. Whether or not you invite Loki is up to you. But anyways, I thought you might be interested to know that we aren't making much progress on that strange passage we found."

I groan. "You haven't found anything else relating to it?"

Anders shakes his head. "We've found little else, period. The excavation is going slowly. I think it would help if we tried exploring in the cave that was initially found, but Lars won't let anybody close to it."

That also seems weird. "Really? Why not?"

Anders leans in close to me as his voice drops to a whisper, almost as if he were telling me a secret. "Lars' cover story is that the cave is too dangerous, but most of us think it's something else."

"Oh?"

"Do you believe in ghosts, Agent O'Connell?" Anders asks with a sly smile on his face.

"You're joking. Lars doesn't seem like the kind of person to shut down part of a dig site because of ghosts."

"It's true," Anders whispers mischievously. "When we first started working on the site, some members of the team were assigned to the cave. That only lasted for a few days, though, before Lars declared it too dangerous and closed it off. The team members who worked in the cave told us that they heard weird whispers and noises and then, of course, there was the cave-in that blocked entrance into the main part of the cave."

"Do you think you would actually find anything in the cave, though? I mean, would it be more worthwhile to explore than the rest of the site?"

Anders leans back in his chair, crossing his hands over his stomach. "I do. Caves would have been a good source of shelter for people living back in the Bronze Age—protection from the weather and all that. I bet we would find a lot of interesting things in there. But oh well," he says, his chair scraping against the floor as he pushes it back and stands up. "Whatever Lars says goes, so we'll not be exploring the cave any time soon, unless we call in another team of professionals to work on it."

Interesting. If we continued in this drought of discovery for the next few days, it might be worthwhile to convince Loki to go caving.

I jump as I feel a hand touch my shoulder. "Upstairs, your room. I'll explain when we get up there, but Inga has agreed."

Well well, speak of the devil.

I silently follow Loki up the staircase, letting him lead the way to my room. Inside I find Inga sitting in the chair next to my desk. Loki motions me to stand by Inga while he drops down onto the bed.

"Agent O'Connell, I told Inga that at S.H.I.E.L.D., we're trying out a new type of relaxation technique to help agents who are overwhelmed by their duties. While we've seen success with the few agents we've tried the technique out on so far, we need more ah… test subjects, if you will. I asked Inga if she would allow us to test the technique out on her and see how it works, and she agreed.

"Inga, there are two components to this technique. In the first, I will give instructions both to you and Agent O'Connell to try and relax your mind. While I am giving you instructions, Agent O'Connell will employ the sense of touch to bring you further into the relaxation state. Are you ready?"

Inga nods while I fix Loki with a panicked look, wondering what I'm supposed to do. We had not discussed this beforehand.

"Excellent, so let us begin. Inga, make yourself comfortable and close your eyes. Agent O'Connell is going to stand behind you and rest her hands on your shoulders." He impatiently motions for me to move behind Inga. I swiftly move, gently touching her shoulders.

"Now Inga, take a deep breath and let go of all your thoughts. Don't strain yourself to get rid of them, but if a thought pops into your mind, gently push it aside. If you need to, use Agent O'Connell's hands as an anchor to keep you from drifting away from where we want you to be.

"Imagine something that makes you happy. It can be anything—real or imaginary, it does not matter, so long as it makes you happy. Focus on this scene and try to immerse yourself in it. Use all five of your senses in imagining yourself in this scene. Smell the surroundings, feel the touch of other people or objects, hear the sounds of whatever is appropriate."

A few minutes pass as Loki allows Inga to fall into this scene.

"Now that you've immersed yourself, feel how happy you are. Imagine yourself surrounded by colors; those colors reflecting the state of your emotions. You're completely surrounded by bright colors. Try and hold on to these feelings."

As Loki continues talking, I realize that the instructions he's giving Inga are actually meant for me. Loki is trying to guide me through the process of projecting onto Inga, while not making it obvious that I'm the one controlling her emotions.

I close my eyes and feel the emotions coming off of Inga, taking note of her situation before I mix my own feelings into it. Loki was right; I can sense a deep sadness coming off her, one that is mixed with feelings of disappointment, worthlessness, and fear. The emotions seem much like Loki's though they are not nearly as strong. And there is something else present in Inga that I cannot detect in Loki—a sense of giving up. Even if she isn't considering suicide, she needs help managing her emotions in a healthy way.

I then ignore the emotions coming off both Inga and Loki and focus on myself, trying to picture happy scenarios. I think of the day when I was hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. I remember when I bought my house. And then suddenly I'm back in the forest, Loki sitting next to me, holding my hand as I tell him my deepest desires. The memory seems so real that I can almost feel him as he brushes his thumb against my cheek; I can almost smell that fresh peppermint scent as he leans in closer to me.

I don't have to strain to try and picture the happy emotions surrounding me, as my joy and elation are so strong that they're practically bursting out of me. I imagine myself swirling the colors into a perfect sphere and then pushing it onto Inga.

As the bright colors merge with Inga's dark emotions, I keep picturing happy moments to try and make the feeling last for Inga. I imagine myself channeling these emotions onto Inga continuously, willing them to increase in intensity and overtake Inga's own emotions.

Just as I feel myself begin to grow faint, I hear Loki's voice close to mine. I feel him pluck my hands off Inga's shoulders and lead me over to the bed, where I collapse. I keep my eyes closed and drift off into sleep as I hear Loki thank Inga and ask to resume the activity on another day.

* * *

I wake in the middle of the night, both my mind and stomach troubled. After lying in bed for a few moments in hopes that I will fall asleep, my rumbling stomach drives me out of my room, down the creaky staircase, and into the dark kitchen.

I flip on the light over the stove, casting just enough light for me to poke around in the cupboards and see what is available for me to make. I do not turn on more lights for fear of being caught; though I doubt the Norwegians will care that I'm cooking in the middle of the night, habit holds strong with me.

After finding standard baking ingredients, I realize that nothing will satisfy me more at this moment than something sweet. I find a bottle of cinnamon nestled behind the vanilla and with that, decide on making cinnamon rolls.

I start pulling out the various tools and utensils until the only thing left I need is a mixing bowl. I search for it for a few minutes, finding it up high on a shelf above my head. I stand on my tiptoes and stretch my arm to its full length, wiggling my fingers around until they weakly latch onto the side.

"I am surprised to see you awake before the end of the decade."

The voice coming from the entrance of the kitchen startles me, causing me to lose my grip on the bowl just as I start to pull it off the shelf. I reflexively jump out of its path, waiting to hear the ceramic shatter against the floor.

Instead I am met with a soft thud as bowl meets flesh, having fallen into Loki's waiting hands. I blink in surprise, wondering how he could have crossed the room so impossibly quickly.

Loki holds the bowl out to me and I take it, turning around to place it on the counter. Of course it would be him; nobody else could have scared me. I would have sensed their emotions before they had time to speak up. "I was hungry."

"I can understand that, given that you missed dinner. Are you going to make yourself something?"

I move towards the cabinet with the baking ingredients, brushing past Loki as I do so. "I was going to make cinnamon rolls."

"May I help?"

I pause with my hand stretched towards the cinnamon, turning my head to look at Loki, wanting to judge if he is truly sincere. Of course he is blocking his emotions from me, but I cannot read any jesting or scorn on his face.

"Sure. Have you ever baked before?"

Loki shakes his head so I set him to work on what I deem an easy task, measuring out and mixing the filling as I preheat the oven and start making the dough. We work without talking so that the only sounds in the kitchen are those of the sugar scraping against one mixing bowl and the dough making a slapping sound against the other.

When I have the dough mixed, I check on Loki to see that the filling is ready. I sprinkle flour on the countertop and then dip my hands in the flour, telling Loki to do the same.

"Why?" he asks, looking at me suspiciously.

"We have to knead and roll out the dough. If you don't put flour on your hands, the dough will stick to them and it will be a hot mess. See, I put flour on mine," I tell him as I extend my hands out towards him.

Loki looks mildly put off by intentionally dirtying his hands but puts flour on them regardless. I give him half the dough and then start to work on kneading my own half, noticing that Loki gently starts mashing his own dough against the countertop.

I let my mind wander as my body automatically takes over the familiar motions. After a few quiet moments I say, "Will you tell me why you were so upset earlier?"

I hear Loki pause in his kneading before it starts again. "I was unhappy about the fact that you missed Inga's decline into suicidal thoughts."

"No, that wasn't it. I'm a pretty good judge of people, Loki, especially since I've developed my ability, and I know something like that wouldn't be enough to make you that upset. Besides, you seemed very cold towards me, almost as if I had done something wrong."

Another pause. The sound of dough squishing against the countertop is the only sound that breaks the stillness.

"I am concerned."

I give my chunk of dough one final toss against the countertop before I grab Loki's dough and combine the two together. I roughly roll the dough a few times with the rolling pin before handing it over to Loki and indicating he should continue.

"About what?"

Loki snorts softly, leaning his upper body into rolling out the dough. "Things you could not possibly understand."

"Try me."

Loki hesitates but finally continues on. "I fear we are dealing with something much bigger than what we all originally thought. Even though we never knew who was threatening this realm, I think me, and all the other Norse gods, thought that it would be a lesser being easy to take down. Now though, I'm starting to question this assumption. A lesser being would not be able to increase their powers as quickly as we saw with these beings and Inga. I worry that we may be in over our heads."

"What do you think we should do then?"

Loki looks up at the ceiling as a soft rumble of thunder sounds from outside. "We should have company soon. When he arrives we can consult with him. But truthfully, I do not know that there is anything we can do save for bringing the entire pantheon of Norse gods to protect this realm."

Having finished rolling out the dough, Loki and I start spreading the filling on. "Great. Because I'm sure they would all be happy to do so, right? But is that all?"

Loki looks at me intently and I look back, disappointed to see that he is still blocking his emotions from me. "Yes. That is everything."

We roll the dough into a log in silence and then cut out the individual pieces, lying them on a cookie sheet and then sticking them in the oven. As we clean up the kitchen, I decide to start up another conversation.

"You know, I think we should try spelunking."

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh, surely you must know spelunking. It's a game you play with a group of people, but you don't tell anybody you're playing the game. It starts when somebody touches their nose with their finger. When the other people in the group see this, they do the same action. The last person to touch their nose with their finger has to stand up on the table, strip to their underwear, and do the chicken dance."

"Chicken dance?"

"And you call yourself a god," I mutter before I start doing the actions. Loki stares at me in abject horror for a few moments, even after I've ended the dance.

"There are days when I think you Midgardians have advanced so much from the past, but then I learn of strange traditions like this."

"Oh, come on. It's great fun. We'll have to play it sometime. But anyways, onto a related subject, we should go caving."

"Caving? What gave you this strange idea?"

"Earlier at dinner, when you were chatting with Inga, Anders told me that the cave near the archaeological site has been closed off. Apparently it's too dangerous. But Anders also thinks that it could potentially hold a lot of useful information. So I think that if the Norwegians aren't going to explore it, we should."

Loki sighs.

"Oh come on, it could hold the answers to our little problem with the passage, and maybe we could dig up some information about these beings that have got you so worried."

"You are just going to ignore the fact that this cave is dangerous? You would be willing to risk your life so foolishly?"

I turn on the water and throw some soap in the bowls before I start to wash them. "First, I've been caving before, so I do know some of the basics. Besides, what else are we supposed to do? Just continue to sit around for another week while nothing happens? Because nothing is happening, Loki. It's been days now and they've found absolutely nothing at the dig site, and meanwhile we're stuck here just waiting for Thor to come back. I'm also worried about Inga. I know our little experiment today worked, but who's to say that it will continue to be as helpful? What happens if the beings grow even more powerful and it reaches the point where I can't help her anymore?"

Loki dries the dishes I hand to him, working quietly for a few moments before answering. "If you are willing to take the risk, then I will come with you."

I smile. "Excellent. Once we finish cleaning up here, we can go snoop around in the equipment room and see if we can borrow any of the caving equipment."

Loki finishes drying the dishes as I put away the rest of the ingredients, then we walk through the still hotel until we reach the crowded, narrow equipment room. I dig around for a few moments through all the junk as Loki watches me.

Eventually I pull out some backpacks, boots, flashlights, helmets, and pickaxes, handing them to Loki as I do so. "Okay, I think this should be all. Do you think they'll notice that they're missing?"

Loki casually waves a hand and then walks away. I roll my eyes and follow him, but as I turn off the light and close the door, I notice that there are perfect replicas sitting in place of the missing items.

Loki hauls the equipment upstairs to our rooms and then joins me back in the kitchen. "Your illusion trick was pretty slick," I compliment him.

"It will not last for long. We should go to the cave soon, before the effect wears off."

"So tomorrow then?" I ask cheekily. As the timer goes off I pull the rolls out of the oven, smiling as the delicious aroma wafts out of the oven.

Unable to restrain myself, I grab one of the hot rolls and yelp as it burns my fingers. I refuse to let a small burn stop me, however, and shove half of the roll into my mouth, groaning in delight.

"Nice job, Loki. Not so bad for a first-time baker."

Loki smiles. "It was an interesting experience. Although I must admit, I thought you were going to use that flour to get my clothes off."

I nearly choke on the rest of my cinnamon roll. "What?"

"Oh well like this, of course."

My eyes flutter shut as a cloud of flour explodes in my face. When I open my eyes I see with dismay that my entire shirt is coated in the white powder.

"Seriously? Are we going to play this game now?"

I grab the flour out of the cabinet and waste no time in tossing flour all over Loki. He retaliates by hitting me with flour bombs that appear out of nowhere until I move to dump the rest of the flour over his head.

In a flash Loki has me pinned against the cabinets, one arm reaching up to pluck the flour out of my hands. He smiles mischievously as he tosses the bag of flour carelessly behind him, out of reach.

"See? We both must change immediately." His eyes twinkle as his hands drop to the bottom of my shirt, his fingers playfully toying with the hem.

My breath hitches as his fingers brush against my bare skin underneath the shirt and I freeze, not sure that I want to stop him but also unwilling to accept how far I'll go with him. Luckily, I am spared making that decision.

"Ahem."

Loki and I jump apart as we become aware of another person in the kitchen. I look up, blushing furiously, to see Anders standing awkwardly in the doorway, eyes looking anywhere but at us.

He gestures towards the flour-coated flour. "I think you have a bit of a mess to clean up there."


	11. Scared of the Dark

We do not go to the cave the next day, our plans foiled by a severe thunderstorm. So much precipitation falls that the rest of the workers are temporarily relieved of their duties at the archaeological site, Lars figuring that not much will be found in the midst of a flood. Given that our unexplained absence would quickly be noticed with everybody else at the hotel, Loki and I decide to delay our trip for another day. Instead I stay inside, listening to the ominous rumble of thunder while rain falls steadily outside, forming deep puddles in the yard and parking lot.

The Norwegians seem a bit on edge that day, some of them complaining that the weather is almost "unnatural." When I ask Anders what they mean he looks out the window for a few moments before saying, "I suppose it's the thunder. Thunder does not generally accompany rain here, so all this thunder, combined with the constant downpour, just seems a little… strange."

Loki is likewise anxious, spending that day pacing before the window. When I walk near him at one point I hear him muttering about "unwelcome visitors."

But for all the nerves and concerns, nothing happens that day. Loki and I end the night by guiding Inga through another session, with me feeling less exhausted than the previous day.

The rain continues to fall for the next three days, leaving Loki and I cooped up with the Norwegians. Everybody grows more stressed, wanting to do something but instead being stuck inside playing cards or watching TV. It doesn't help that most of us feel like something is about to happen; we all grow jumpy and short of temper. Loki and I meet with Inga daily and by the end of the few days, the number of yellow swirls surrounding Inga outnumbers those of blue. Though she seems to be out of the danger zone, I am still concerned. I worry that the beings will be able to undo my work if they continue to grow in power. I try and busy myself with other tasks but end up spending most of the time staring out the window, biting my nails impatiently as I await the return of the sun.

Eventually the rain stops. I wake early in the morning, disturbed by the peculiar stillness. I lay in bed for a few minutes, trying to figure out why I feel so uneasy, until I realize it's because I can no longer hear thunder or the soft pitter-patter of raindrops.

I pad quietly into Loki's bedroom through the adjoining door, walking over to his sleeping form. As I stand there uncertainly, unsure of how I should wake him, the sheets rustle as he moves from his side onto his back.

His eyes open fix on me, seeming unsurprised to see me there."I see your point about keeping the adjoining door locked," he says mischievously, his eyes twinkling in the early-morning light.

"It's stopped raining," I say, feeling rather obvious. "Do you think we can go to the cave today?"

Loki sits up in bed, the sheets falling down to reveal his naked chest. I quietly avert my eyes to look out the window, trying my best to not openly gape at his muscled torso. Loki cocks his head to the side for a few moments. "I believe Lars will have the Norwegians resume their work today. They will probably have to pump water out of the site before they can continue, so that will be an even better opportunity for us to sneak around unnoticed. Go get dressed. If we wish to not be apprehended, we must arrive at the site before any of the others," he says as he shoos me out of his room.

I hurry back into my room and pull on a few layers of clothes, knowing that it will be damp and slightly chilly in the cave. I quickly braid my hair and then tuck it under a thin hat as I hear Loki enter my room, similarly dressed in warm layers, his boots already pulled over his feet. His backpack hangs over one shoulder.

I pull on my boots and lace them then follow Loki downstairs to the kitchen. We grab food and plenty of water bottles, stuffing them into our backpacks. Loki snags the car keys for the dirty little sedan we used before and then we trudge our way through the muddy, flooded parking lot to the car. As we cross the parking lot I glance back over my shoulder towards the hotel, worrying that somebody will see us before we leave. However, the hotel remains still and quiet, even as we slam the car doors shut and the engine noisily starts up.

Loki drives us to the dig site, spraying water all over the road as he hurtles through the ubiquitous puddles. We reach the dig site in what seems to be record time, Loki pulling the car off the muddy road and into the forest so that the vehicle will not be noticed.

Loki puts the car into park and then shoves his helmet onto his head but doesn't unbuckle his seatbelt. He turns towards me in his seat and asks, "Are you certain this is worth the risk, Callie?"

I take a deep breath, having thought the same all throughout the ride to the dig site. But still, I am convinced this is something that needs to be done. "We have to do this. If we don't, the situation will only get worse. This is the only way we can gain any information on the beings. Besides, it seems just a little too perfect to me that the Norwegians refuse to explore this cave. And the weather? It almost seems as if somebody is trying to stop us, doesn't it? It only makes me more determined," I say as I grab my helmet and step out of the car. I buckle the strap around my chin and grab my backpack as Loki gets out of the car, halfheartedly throwing a few branches on the car before striding off through the thick mud.

The forest is darker than before, undoubtedly because thick clouds still cover the sky. It feels almost eerie and I try to shrug off the feeling that we're being watched as I hurry after Loki. We trudge through the forest in silence, each of us absorbed in our own thoughts.

When Loki and I reach the dig site I see he is right; most of the site appears to be flooded. The Norwegians will have to spend quite a bit of time pumping the excess water out, as the ground is too saturated to absorb most of it. Rather than dwell too long on the rest of the ruined site, Loki and I head up the wooden path leading to the cave.

When we reach the entrance we find a few boards haphazardly nailed across it, attempting to bar entrance. While probably an effective deterrent against the already superstitious team members, the boards are no match for a determined pair. Loki gives me a boost up over the top board before hoisting himself into the cave just behind me.

We turn on our flashlights simultaneously and then attach them to our helmets, illuminating the darkness before us. The cave entrance is tall enough for both Loki and I to stand upright and wide enough for us to stand next to each other. I run my fingers against the wall, feeling water trickling down the rock. No surprise given all the rain as of late.

Loki looks at me one more time, as if checking that I'm still okay with this, before confidently leading the way into the cave. Although much of the cave is uninteresting, we see the occasional rock paintings as we continue deeper downwards. We stop for a few moments to examine each, looking for any clues; however, like before, the only pictures we see are those of hunters and fishermen. No indication of twins of any visits by the gods.

We walk for less than a half hour before we find the path blocked by a large cave-in, just as Anders had mentioned. Loki looks back at me with a victorious look, almost as if to say he was right and this trip was not worth our time.

I stand back from the cave-in and look around, desperate to find some way deeper into the cave. I see a small gap between some of the larger rocks near the top of the ceiling. Though Loki is too big to fit through it, perhaps I can squirm my way through.

"Do you see that space up there?" I ask, my voice seeming excessively loud as it echoes throughout the cave. "If you can get me up there, maybe I can get past the blockage."

Loki looks skeptically at me. "Are you certain that is wise?"

"Well what else do you suggest? We put in all the effort to get here and explore this cave so I'm going to explore it, damnit. Give me a lift up."

Loki laces his fingers together and holds his hands out to me, quirking an eyebrow at me as he does so.

I roll my eyes but put my boot in the cradles formed by Loki's hands anyways. I place my hands against the stone for support as he lifts me up, bringing me to eye-level with the hole. I peer into the darkness, not seeing much, and then stick my hand into it. When I reach my entire arm through the space without encountering any resistance, I say to Loki, "It seems to be open up here, and it's bigger than I thought. I'm going to try and wiggle my way in and see if I can get through to the other side."

Loki firmly wraps his hands around my feet, trapping me from moving into the space. "I do not think you should do this."

I look down at him carefully, trying to avoid blinding him with my flashlight. A crinkle interrupts the smooth skin of his forehead.

"Worried, are you?"

"I have a bad feeling about this, Callie. If you do this you will be separated from me and I will be unable to assist you."

"You can't just magic the rocks out of the way, can you?"

Loki shakes his head.

"Well then this is our only option. Don't worry, I'll be fine," I say as I gently ease my foot from Loki's grasp and pull myself up into the opening. I crawl forward on my forearms until my entire body is in the small space, my back flush up against the ceiling.

"I'll be back in a jiffy. Don't go anywhere, okay?"

I hear Loki mutter, "Where am I to go?" as I start moving forward into the small space. The rock scrapes at my elbows and knees through the fabric of my clothes and I try to avoid cutting my hands on the jagged edges of the rocks.

The space is confined and even though I am not claustrophobic, I start feeling a little trapped by the closeness. I try and push the growing fear aside and concentrate on my task, keeping the memory of Inga's intense sadness in my mind as motivation.

After a few minutes of slow crawling, I feel the air temperature drop a few degrees. I cautiously stick my hand out in front of me, feeling for the path, but instead feel emptiness.

"Hey Loki!" I call, hoping that my voice will carry back to him. "I think I found the end of the cave-in—it feels like there's a downward tunnel here!"

I smile, feeling glad that the uncomfortable experience was not for naught, but the smile quickly fades as I hear Loki's anxious call back to me.

"Callie! Get back here now!"

I feel a sharp tug on my ankles, pulling my legs out behind my body and sending me sprawling onto my stomach. I desperately reach out and grasp rocks with my hands, resisting the backwards pull.

But then I have bigger problems, for I hear a sharp breaking crack and then feel the rocks beneath me start to crumble. The tugging pulls insistently at me but I continue to fight it, loosening one hand from the rocks to reach back to my backpack. I draw out the pickaxe hanging from one of the loops and start violently hacking at the ceiling, hoping to get a hold on something before the ground falls out beneath me. My breath comes in short pants and sweat beads on my skin as the pickaxe bounces off against the rock with a loud, jarring clang. "What the fuck is this, diamond?"

Within a mere heartbeat my platform is gone and with a surprised shout, I start tumbling downwards into an unknown abyss. As I fall I thrust my pickaxe outwards, seeking the wall so that I can find some kind of hold to stop my descent. After a few unnerving moments my pickaxe latches onto an overhang, bringing my fall to an abrupt stop, my right shoulder wrenching out of the socket with the force. My head snaps against the rock wall, helmet bouncing off with a loud crack, as I forcibly collide with the stone. I cry out in pain but continue to hold on, grabbing the pickaxe with my left hand for additional support.

I tilt my head up towards the ceiling and gather all the breath I can to scream, "Loki!" A drop of rain lands on my face as my voice cracks, "Help!"

The only reply I hear is a few rocks tumbling quietly down the sides of the tunnel. I pant as I try to better adjust my grip on the pickax handle, crying out as I jar my shoulder. My feet drift towards the wall, seeking a foothold.

I continue to hang there for a few more minutes, my arm beginning to complain with the effort of holding up my whole body. My palms begin to sweat and combined with the steady fall of water onto the pickaxe, I feel my hand slowly inching downwards towards the end of the handle.

"Come on Loki," I whisper as my hand reaches the very end of the handle, knowing that once I fall, he is my only hope for survival.

A tear trickles down my cheek as my hand slides off the handle. I resume my fall, my body twisting in the air. I close my eyes as I accept that this time, I won't live.

A low, malicious-sounding chuckle resounds through the chamber, piercing through the cloud of panic distorting my thoughts. My eyes fly open as I desperately search for the sound of the noise, just as I hear the words, "You know not what you mess with, mortal," in that same deep voice.

I scream and am temporarily blinded by a bright flash of white as I am overwhelmed with pain, feeling something grab my injured arm and yank it upwards. I choke down my cries as I feel the force wrap itself firmly around my wrist and then realize that instead of my uncontrolled fall, I am slowly being lowered. I close my eyes in an attempt to endure the agonizing pain.

As soon as my feet touch the ground, the invisible force holding me up vanishes, leaving me to collapse to the ground as my legs give way. I lay in an unmoving heap on the ground for some time, my mind and body trying to recollect themselves.

After some time, I dig my fingers into the ground, feeling it crumble loosely under the force. I take in a few deep breaths of the damp, musty air as I move my head to rest my forehead against the cold ground.

I start to laugh uncontrollably, tears streaming out of my eyes as the enormity of what occurred passes over me. "I actually lived," I giggle, rolling my body from side to side as it shakes with my laughter. I gasp in pain as I accidentally hit my shoulder against stone. At least that manages to stop my crazy laughter.

"Get a hold of yourself, Callie," I say as I carefully sit up, taking off my helmet with my good hand and feeling my head for any bumps. Miraculously it seems fine, although I feel a little woozy. My hand automatically reaches for the spot where the flashlight rested, and when I realize it is gone, I start to panic. My collision with the wall probably knocked it clean off my helmet, which means it could be anywhere.

"Don't freak out," I tell myself firmly, trying to keep myself together. "Just try and find it and if you don't, it's not the end of the world. Loki knows you're down here; he'll get help and come rescue you."

_Unless something happened to him, too_, my mind whispers pessimistically.

"Don't think about that. Nope, Loki's fine and he's on his way right now," I say as I shift forward so that I am on my hands and knees. As I continue to talk to myself comfortingly, I slowly start crawling forward, feeling the ground in front of me for my flashlight.

Within a few paces my outstretched hand hits against the rock wall, so I turn around and start trying to search the rest of the area, all the while muttering to myself. When I run into yet another wall I flop into a sitting position, leaning my head back against the wall.

"If only I had a light," I whisper desperately, closing my eyes as I start to contemplate what to do next.

"Scared of the dark?"

I jolt upright, eyes straining to see in the darkness, hands extended in front of me. "Who's there?"

I receive no reply which only unnerves me more. "Loki? Is that you?"

I stand up, using the wall behind me for guidance. I then take a few steps forward, testing the ground carefully before taking each step. I keep my arms in front of me so that I don't smack my head against a wall again.

A few minutes pass without me running into some underground goblin or hearing any more voices, leaving me to chalk up what I heard to a hallucination.

"I did hit my head pretty hard, after all. It makes sense. Just me here, me alone. No Loki, no mythical creatures. Just me.

"So what do I do now?"

I stop moving, racking my brain for any possible options. The situation for me is dire, especially given that I have no flashlight, no way to see through the darkness. I have only a finite amount of food and water. I have no way to get out of here.

"Okay, stop that. You have two options. You can either wait here for Loki to rescue you or you can move on and try to find something. So which do you choose?"

Even though I know waiting in this spot for Loki to come gives him a better chance of finding me, rather than getting myself lost in this huge cave, I decide to wander. I feel better actively doing something as opposed to just waiting for a miracle to happen, so I slowly start moving forward again.

I alternate between talking to myself and singing songs, the sound of my voice comforting in this dark, silent place. I continue in this way for an unknown amount of time, having no way to measure the passage of time, until I trip over something on the ground and fall to my knees.

"That was stupid," I mutter to myself as I search for whatever it was I tripped over. "All you need now is to break an ankle and then you'll really be screwed."

I immediately stop talking to myself as my fingers wrap around the item I had tripped over, feeling the familiar touch of plastic and a long, cylindrical shape. I cradle the object in my lap as I run my fingers over its surface, hardly daring to breathe as my fingers find a switch.

Emotion chokes me as I flip the switch on, light flashing into existence in front of me. I hold the flashlight tightly to my chest, breathing out unintelligible sentences as I thank the higher power that graced me with the good luck to find my flashlight again.

The thought of how my flashlight journeyed this far crosses my mind. I try to push it aside but before I can, a chill runs down my spine. I turn around, scarcely breathing, as I search the darkness for the reflection of watching eyes. When I see nothing I try to shrug it off, telling myself that the most important thing is that I found my flashlight.

When I manage to collect myself I attach the flashlight to my helmet and then stand up, having found new hope that I'll make it out of this dismal place. I take one step after the other, forging a new path into this unknown world.


	12. Blood

I walk for what must be hours before I hear the trickling sound of water some distance ahead of me. I follow the source of the noise, exiting out of the small tunnel I had been wandering in and entering a large cavern. A small stream of water flows down the rocks and leads into a giant lake, the smooth surface untouched by any disturbances.

I approach the water's edge and crouch down before it, sticking my hands into the cool water. I cup them and lift them up, staring for a minute at my reflection in the water. Mud and grime streak across my face and a thin line of blood trails down the left side of my cheek. I follow the line to its origin, pushing up my helmet, and find that I must have nicked the skin just at my hair line. I take off my helmet, setting it down next to me, and throw some water across my face, hoping to rid myself of the unclean feeling.

I blot the water off my face with the end of my shirt, shrugging with discomfort as the damp fabric rests against my stomach. I then stare at the pool of water for a few moments, debating on whether or not I want to refill my water bottles. I decide that for now, I won't take the risk of getting sick from microbes living in the water. If I run out of water I can always find my way back to this place or find another stream.

I sit down near the edge of the water, pulling a granola bar out of my backpack. As I chew I absentmindedly brush some dust off the backpack before moving to skipping stones over the surface of the lake. Most of them fall with a distinct plunk down to the bottom, but I manage to make one skip a few times.

After I exhaust the supply of suitable skipping stones around me I shift over to a new place, avidly searching through the stones. As I do so I become aware of a rustling sound from behind me. I pick up the largest stone I can find as I swiftly turn around, searching for what could be moving. "Is somebody there?" I call out.

Stones clatter against one another as something clumsily picks its way through them, approaching me. I stand up, still clutching my rock. Adrenaline rushes through my system as I imagine some mutated cave-dwelling creature heading towards me, thinking I'll be a tasty dinner. I back up a few steps until I feel cool water lap against my boots and then brace myself for the attack.

Every muscle in my body tenses as something moves into the light of my flashlight. It immediately flits out of the light, but when it reenters I relax and drop the stone, finally recognizing the form standing before me.

"Loki," I whisper, my heart pounding loudly in my chest. I take a few steps towards him but then collapse, the relief at seeing a familiar face turning my muscles to water. Loki closes the gap between us and crouches down beside me, one hand cupping my cheek and the other arm wrapping itself around my waist as he pulls me close. I embrace Loki in return, burying my face gratefully into his jacket.

"I was so worried something had happened to you," I say, my words muffled as I speak directly into his jacket.

Loki chuckles, his chest rumbling underneath my face. "Me? You were worried about me?"

"Of course," I say as I nuzzle my face against his chest.

"I was not the one who tumbled down that shaft."

I feel Loki's fingers play with the stray hairs poking their way out of my braid. "I don't know how I survived. I thought for sure I was a goner."

"Well that would have been my doing."

I pull gently out of Loki's arms so that I can see his face. "That was you? The force that slowed my fall?"

Loki nods. "I tried to pull you out of that little crawlspace before the rocks gave way beneath you but you resisted me too much," he says, fixing me with a firm look.

"Sorry," I mutter as I blush. "I thought that was what you were warning me about."

The corners of Loki's lips twinge up in a smile. "Indeed not. When you fell, I lost my contact with you. It took me some time to find you again, but thankfully I managed to do so before you reached the end of the descent."

I think back to my fall, when I felt the force wrap itself around the wrist. Although I hadn't realized it at the time, the force had almost felt like fingers. The memory of the strange voice also comes back to me but I decide to not tell Loki, figuring it had just been my overactive imagination in the face of danger.

"Thank you," I say, ducking my face in to lean against his chest again. We are content to stay in this embrace for some time, each of us seeming to take comfort in the fact that the other survived.

Eventually I pull away from Loki, catching his hand in one of my own and lacing our fingers together. "Where have you been?"

Having finally separated from each other long enough to see the other, Loki looks me up and down, as if checking that I am still in one piece. "I was stuck up above for some time. Unfortunately my magical reserves here in this cave are somewhat limited, so using magic to bring you safely to the ground expended all that I had. I had to rest for a while in order to recover enough magic to bring me down here to you."

"I don't suppose that you'll be able to take us back up then?"

Loki shakes his head. "Lifting objects up is slightly more difficult than lowering them, simply because of the effects of gravity. It would cost more than I have to lift us both up to the top of the shaft. Besides, as I was coming down to you, I heard another cave-in from the direction of the entrance. Even if we could get to the top, I believe we would be stuck."

"And blasting a hole through the rock is out of the question?"

"It is even more improbable than me levitating us upwards. The walls of rock are just too thick. And besides that… I feel almost as if there is a shield surrounding this cave. Can you sense it?"

Loki peers up towards the ceiling, almost as if seeing some force there.

"The shield seems to be of a magical nature, one that is making it more difficult for me to utilize my magic. It is also probably lengthening the time it takes for my magic to recharge. Such a magical shield is not natural." He looks at me, frowning slightly. "Someone had to put this shield here, and the most likely candidates are the beings. If this is the case, it is a bad development. If they can construct such a physical shield, they may also be able to attack physically in some ways instead of just mentally. We must be on our guard from now on, for I fear things may become more serious.

"But enough talk of magic and these strange beings. You are injured." Loki reaches out and gently touches my shoulder with one hand.

I wince and push his hand away. "Yeah, I think I dislocated it when I was falling. You're going to have to help me with it."

"I am afraid that healing magic is not my forte, especially given my previous exertions, but I'll do the best I can."

"Nevermind that. See, when it comes to dislocated shoulders, here 'healing magic' equates to 'using brute force to pop the joint back into place.'"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Yeah, you're going to need to shove my shoulder back in place, essentially."

Loki continues to look disgusted by the brutality with which we treat injuries on Midgard.

"Okay seriously, get over it. You must do this. With my joint out of place, blood supply to my shoulder could get messed up. You need to fix it so that it can start healing."

"You will have to instruct me," Loki says, seeming to agree to the idea. I walk him through the process of reducing the joint which he does, me wincing in pain as the joint comes back together.

I move my shoulder carefully, trying to not strain the muscles any further. It feels much better now, though I know that I'll need to be careful with that shoulder over the next few days.

"Was that painful?" Loki asks, looking with genuine concern at my shoulder.

"A little, but I've sustained far worse injuries working for S.H.I.E.L.D. before. Anyways, now that that's done, we should move on. We're going to have to see if we can somehow find a way out down here, seeing as we can't go back and nobody is going to come rescue us anytime soon."

Loki starts leading the way ahead but before he has time to take more than a few steps, I rush forward and wrap my arms around his midsection. Loki halts as I rest my head against his back.

"Thanks for finding me, Loki."

Loki places his hands on my own and squeezes them gently before releasing. "Thank you for surviving. I doubt Odin would have been pleased had my student died."

I scoff. "It would take a fair bit more than a little fall to kill me. I'm like a cat; I always land on my feet." I wink at Loki.

"Oh?" he says, not seeming to believe me. "You must be pretty hardy then. But every person has their weakness, so what is yours?"

I think for a moment. "Knives," I whisper, my voice not coming out as strongly as I would have liked. "Daggers, swords… anything with a sharp edge used for cutting."

Loki takes my hand in his own. "I do not think there are any such instruments down here, so you will be fine."

I smile at Loki and gently pull on his hand as I take a few steps forward, indicating we should move on. We follow the path next to the underground lake as it narrows down to a stream and flows out of the cavern, into a narrow passageway. We continue to follow the water's path as the tunnel narrows and grows smaller in height, so that Loki has to bend down uncomfortably as we walk. Eventually we must part from each other in order to walk single-file, as the tunnel is not wide enough for us to walk abreast. I occasionally bump my head against the low ceiling and thank heavens that not only do I have a helmet, but that I'm not as tall as Loki.

Just when I start to think the tunnel will narrow until we can no longer fit through, I feel the sides of the tunnel fall away. I carefully stand up until my spine is straight, noting that we must be in another large cavern.

As Loki emerges from the tunnel he straightens with a groan and starts to stretch out his stiff muscles, but then freezes in place. "Do you sense that?"

I start to ask Loki what he means but before I have time to get out the first word, Loki is quickly walking away from me, heading towards the wall of the giant cavern. The beam from his flashlight swivels around crazily as he turns his head from side to side, appearing to see something.

"Hey, what is it? Loki?"

Just in front of the wall Loki stops, stretching his hand out towards the rock. As I approach him I finally see what had caught his attention—the rock is covered with complex painted scenes. Some of the paintings have faded with age and the cave's moisture, but others are still clearly visible. Much like the rock carvings at Alta, I see hunters chasing animals and men building boats before sailing off into the ocean.

I walk slowly next to the wall, looking at all of the paintings. As I progress further into the cave, I notice that the pictures change. The quality increases and I can tell that different hands have added this artwork to the cave.

What looks to be a funeral scene catches my eye, so I pause to examine every aspect of the scene. People stand around a funeral pyre, while others lay hunched in the background. Dead animals lie scattered around the site while fire consumes the forests. I feel goosebumps begin to form on my flesh as the scene conveys an intense sense of dread.

Loki, who is standing a few feet further down the wall, says, "Undoubtedly some sort of catastrophe. Disease, possibly drought. But look who comes to save the day," he says dryly.

I look at the paintings Loki is pointing to, seeing two figures approach the village. From the following scenes depicted on the wall, I gather that these two individuals were welcomed into the village and they helped return the village to prosperity. I see pictures of the two healing the sick and tending to the fields. From the looks of it, the village achieved heights never previously reached before the two individuals arrived.

The tone of the paintings drastically changes when I move to the next set. I see the two individuals standing above the village while the villagers seem to panic. Fire consumes the buildings and lightning cracks down from the sky. To the side I see some sort of table, with a person lying on top.

The horror continues further down the wall. The villagers try to chase the two individuals out of the village but the two merely kill those who try to stop them. The villagers are seen kneeling before the two, almost as if worshipping them.

The cave paintings end there. I look at Loki for clarification, who is staring at symbols above the pictures.

"There is writing here," he says upon noticing the direction of my gaze. "It tells the story of these pictures and was likely added later. But as you could probably gather from the picture, two unusual beings approached the village in the time of a great catastrophe. These beings, who were described as twins, helped the village to recover and grow even greater than before.

"But then one day the twins came back to the village after a long journey, carrying with them a beautiful round sphere, about the size of a fist. The sphere was bronze in color unless one of the twins was touching it. Then it emitted a brilliant white light.

"The villagers were fascinated by this object, but the twins kept it hidden from view. Before long, it became apparent to the villagers that something was not right. Some of village inhabitants changed very dramatically, seemingly for no reason. Instead of being kind and generous, they became harsh and evil. They followed the twins around, doing their every bidding.

"Things only continued to get worse. The twins began demanding sacrifices and forcing the remaining villagers, the ones who hadn't already been corrupted by the twins, to participate in evil rituals. The villagers banded together and declared the twins witches, then set about trying to overthrow them and drive them out. Those who rebelled were caught by the twins and sacrificed. The remaining villagers grew silent, learning to live with the horror of their two captors, as their fields ran red with the blood of their children.

"And that's where the story ends."

I lean down to the ground, finding a broken shard of pottery lying in the dirt. I trace the edges along my finger as I think.

"So more than likely, these are the same two who were described in that passage found outside the cave. If so, I was right about them being twins," I say triumphantly. "And they mentioned some object here, which is what we saw in the rock carvings at Alta. Do you know what this object might be?"

"I have never heard of such a thing. I have never heard of these twins, either, which is unusual given that they were probably gods."

Loki moves on, ending the conversation. We do not find any more rock paintings or passages but do find more signs that this cave was once habited by humans. Loki turns up a few more pottery shards, while I find some frayed cloth pieces.

After we decide that we will learn nothing else from this part of the cave, we continue walking. Loki keeps his eyes straight ahead on the path, seemingly uninterested in finding anything else, while I swivel my head from side to side, looking for any more informative paintings on the walls.

In a room just beyond the habited area, my light falls upon what appears to be a square stone table. Without telling Loki, thinking he'll just chide me for delaying our progress, I approach the table.

Closer, I can see that the table is about hip-height and rectangular in shape. As I notice the indents cut into the edges of the table top and the bowls placed under the table, I realize that I'm standing before what appears to be some sort of altar.

I reach my hand out towards the altar, feeling strangely drawn to it and wanting to feel the rough, cold scrape of rock against my skin.

"Do not touch it."

I pull my hand back, clutching it to my chest as if I had burned it. "Why not?"

Loki circles around the altar, never taking his eyes off of it. He stays a careful distance away from it. "There are certain things in this universe that are inherently evil, or things that are corrupted in such a way that they become evil. This is one of those such things. You do not want to touch it, lest you invite the evil into yourself."

"Are you afraid of ghosts, Loki? Because you're starting to sound a little superstitious."

"I am not imagining this. This is very real, and very dangerous. This was used as an object of power, and even though it has been many years since it has been used, it still retains a glimmer of its power. It would be enough to overwhelm a mortal such as you with darkness."

"I don't understand. Why is it so bad?"

"Those twins that were described in the passages we found? They were surely not of Midgard. In order for them to live on Midgard for an extended period of time, they had to assume a quasi-human form. That is, they probably looked like humans and had to succumb to human needs, but they still kept their god-like powers and were not affected by disease or age as normal mortals. When assuming a form such as this for a long time, the being will find himself slowly drained of energy, provided he stays long enough. It is because of trying to maintain a form that is not naturally yours. You essentially have to cut yourself off from the magic that makes you who you. We are not made for such a form, and as such we cannot survive for long in it.

"This must have happened to those twins that came here. They must have stayed for so long that they grew weak, especially given that they used their magic so frequently. They could have replenished their energy by returning home and assuming their natural form, wherever and whatever that might be, but for some reason they did not. Instead, they needed another way to heal themselves.

"So they demanded human sacrifice, the blood of innocents. It is amazing, the power and magic that blood holds. That is the reason why it is always connected to gods. You mortals can sense that there is something important about spilling the blood of an innocent, but you cannot utilize the power given by such blood. We can, however. We can capture the fleeing spirit, the freed soul, of the being and use it as energy. It makes us who we are again, at least for a time. And then we require more blood to satisfy the new craving for energy."

Loki laughs mirthlessly. "You will find it revolting, but the more unwilling the sacrifice, the more energy that can be captured. It is clear to me that the twins sacrificed only those who refused to give their lives. They probably slaughtered innocent children and maidens, those still considered pure and untainted by the reality of ageing.

"But while unwilling offerings provide the most energy, they also bring with them a greater taint of evil. Great gods such as Odin can withstand the evil that comes through unwilling sacrifices, but lesser gods would easily be swayed by evil notions and actions. Their entire being would be changed, until they would be unrecognizable by personality alone.

"But I fear it may be worse than even that. There are rituals designed to tear souls from bodies, to rip them into pieces in the most painful way possible as the physical body takes its last breath. The gods can then take up these tortured souls for their own use. These rituals are the darkest of all, for they twist and shatter the very fabric of life. You could not even begin to understand how terrible these rituals are, Callie. I have seen gods go mad and lose their minds from the evil that entered them through unwilling human sacrifice. I have seen gods go on destructive rampages, killing everything in their paths, occasionally ending with the taking of their own life. I have seen gods turn on each other, leading to long, bloody wars that are reflected in the other realms. No, nothing good can result from unwilling sacrifice with these torturing rituals, and it is so dark that not even I would touch it."

"You think that's why the humans turned on the twins, then, don't you? Because the gods demanded these people to sacrifice their children to them, and they wouldn't put up with it."

"I am certain that some agreed. Some would have lusted after the power of these twins, and thinking that cooperating might gain them a place of favor with the gods, they helped collect sacrifices. But eventually enough of the humans revolted against the gods to try and bring them down. It was probably at this same time that Odin and the other gods heard of the actions of these twins, and decided that punishment must be doled out."

"People sacrificed to Odin though, right?" Loki nods. "I'm sure some of the sacrifices to Odin were not willing. So why is it okay to sacrifice to Odin but not to these twins, and why wasn't Odin corrupted by this darkness that you speak of?"

"Again, the sacrifice demanded by the twins was of a dark nature. They must have taught the humans the rituals designed to rip the newly departed souls into pieces. Odin never taught his followers that, realizing that even he would not be able to absorb such darkness and remain unchanged. These other gods either did not realize the implications of such actions, or they were too greedy with power to care."

I shudder as I look at the altar, imagining a screaming child being held down as adults surround the altar and chant, one of them raising a sharp knife above his head.

"Let's keep moving," I say quietly, and Loki silently assents. We continue further into the cave, following the underground lake, our feet crunching quietly on the dirt and our flashlight beams illuminating the ground ahead of us.

After a few moments I speak up. "Why can't you remember these twins?"

"I do not know. I know that I have not met beings such as these before, but that is not entirely strange, for they may have been cast out when I was just a child. But just the same, I should have at least heard their history and learned about them. The fact that I did not is more than unusual. I will have to ask Thor if he remembers these two. If not, then Odin should be able to enlighten us. It appears that the path up here will take some work to navigate, so it might be best if we cease talking for now."

I squint up ahead into the darkness, seeing that the path narrows and hugs the cave wall. I start to tell Loki that it doesn't look so difficult but then I see that the water level of the lake is far below us.

Loki and I walk for an indeterminate length of time, eventually making our way past the second underground lake into a series of small rooms filled with stalagmites and stalactites. I feel myself beginning to grow weary, each footstep harder and harder to manage.

Eventually Loki halts near the side of one of the small rooms. "You are past the point of exhaustion. You must sleep; it has been many hours since we have entered the cave and you have been injured. Sleep for a few hours and we will be better able to find a route of exit."

I nod but feel my skin crawl as I think of sleeping in such a dark, empty place, especially given our discovery of the sacrificial altar. Who knows what other ghosts haunt this place?

"I need less sleep than you, so I will keep watch while you rest."

Loki moves some distance away from me, sitting with his back against the wall. Seeing me standing stock still, he says, "You might need to lie down to rest, you know."

I take a few steps to close the distance between Loki and I, sitting down near him. At his inquisitive expression, I say, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to be too far away from you."

Loki smirks. "Scared, Agent O'Connell?"

"I suppose you could call it that," I say as I lie down on my side, my back towards Loki.

"We will make it out of here," he says reassuringly as I close my eyes and try to sleep.


	13. The Guide

I wake slowly, unwilling to disturb the warm, comfortable nest in which I lay. I tentatively open my eyes, not wanting to be blinded by the light, before remembering that bright light is the least of my problems in this desolate cave. I sit up on my elbows and peer down at my body, seeing that I'm covered by a makeshift blanket. Where did that come from?

I hear a small noise to the side and turn towards it, seeing my stoic guardian sitting just a stone's throw away, carefully watching me. His white forearms stand out against the darkness of his clothing and it's then that I realize he has shed his coat. I look back to the fabric covering me, playing with the zipper of the coat as emotion rises in my throat, knowing that he sacrificed himself to the cold in order to keep me warm.

I completely sit up, pulling the coat gently off of my body and handing it towards Loki. "Thanks. You didn't have to do that."

"You seemed cold." He snags the jacket out of my fingers and shrugs into it before abruptly standing up. "If you are rested now, we should continue on."

"I don't suppose you had any clever, tricky ideas for how to get us out of here, hmm?"

Loki grins wickedly in response to my question. "I did, in fact." He holds his hand out a few inches from his chest, palm facing upwards to the ceiling. When nothing happens I give him a confused look.

"Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention," he says. With that, a small, bright, perfectly spherical light appears a few centimeters above his palm. Loki's lips purse as he appears to blow, the light suddenly gliding across his hand and into the space between us.

I let out an impatient huff. "A light. That's your grand idea? We already have lights. I mean, if our flashlight batteries burn out it will be helpful, but as of now…"

My words trail off as the small light hovers in the air for a split second before shooting off over Loki's shoulder, further into the cave. I peer past Loki to see the light continue travelling forward, slowing down almost as if waiting for us. I look back at Loki with surprise.

"Not just any light. That is to be our guide out of here."

Loki turns on his heel and starts running, following the light's path. Almost as if it can sense its creator is coming, the light begins to move again.

"Come along Callie!" Loki calls back over his shoulder, never failing in his pursuit of our guide.

I break into a short sprint until I catch up to Loki before settling down into a comfortable jog, a pace that I can maintain for miles. Luckily my position with S.H.I.E.L.D. requires me to stay in top physical condition, so I don't find myself gasping for air or struggling to keep up with Loki.

The light leads us further and further into the cave, through countless tunnels, across an underground river or two, and once through a shallow, cold pool. After running for some time I speak up.

"How long will it last?"

Loki glances up towards the ceiling, almost as if seeing that invisible force again. "So long as nothing unusual happens, it will glow until it accomplishes its mission. That is, leading us to the exit."

"And it will take us there? I mean it's not just leading us on some giant goose chase, is it? We're not just getting some light exercise?"

Loki throws me an exasperated glance back over his shoulder. "Please, Callie. This is my magic we're talking about here. My magic simply does not gain a mind of its own, unlike the magic of some others."

"Wait, what?" I nearly screech, having a new reason to panic. Before Loki has a chance to elaborate, however, the light, which is already moving at a fast clip, increases its pace. It reaches a fork just ahead and appears to hesitate for a second before flying swiftly into the right tunnel. Loki breaks into a sprint and I suddenly find my muscles protesting as I attempt to keep up with his long legs.

"Hey, is this supposed to happen?" I gasp out, nearly avoiding smacking my head against a piece of rock hanging down from the ceiling.

Loki does not answer, instead seeming to focus his energy on keeping up with the light. Unfortunately for me, this means I have to work doubly hard on not losing him. Even though I try valiantly, he slowly starts to pull away from me, disappearing entirely as he reaches the end of the tunnel and enters into another cavern.

"Loki, slow down!"

I shoot out of the tunnel, intent on making up lost ground, but I smack directly into Loki. He doesn't even budge from the force of my impact but he does cast me a dirty look before calling out in a strange language.

"There. It will not go so quickly now. Do not blame it; we are reaching the end of our journey so it wanted to speed up."

I snort. "And you said your magic doesn't gain a mind of its own?"

Loki ignores me and saunters off again, leaving me to break back into a run. We quickly pass out of the cavern and into yet another tunnel, though this one is different from all the others before. The floor of this tunnel slopes increasingly downward, allowing Loki and I to pick up speed as we chase the light.

When Loki stops abruptly at the bottom I nearly crash into him again. I mutter an apology and take a few steps backward, giving him more space. I look up then to see that the only light in the tunnel is coming from our flashlights; our guidelight has disappeared.

"End of the line," Loki says quietly, turning to the wall and feeling the rock. He turns his ear to it and listens for a moment before shaking his head.

"This doesn't look like an exit," I say obviously, pointing at the thick expanse of rock before us.

Loki frowns. "The light would not lead us astray. This must be the closest we can come to an exit from the cave."

"Are you sure?" I ask, trying to keep the desperation from my voice. "It couldn't be the beings or that weird magical shield you felt messing with your light?"

Loki shakes his head. "I would know if they toyed with it."

"So this is really it then? This is the closest we can get to escaping? Christ Loki, there's still a huge, solid wall in front of us!"

Loki turns from the wall to face me, holding his hands out in front of him, palms facing me. "Just calm down. I have an idea."

"Another idea? Oh well I certainly hope it's a better idea than your little guidelight, seeing how well that one turned out!"

Loki holds eye contact with me for a few seconds before slowly walking behind me. I feel him rest his hands lightly against my back before pressing against it. I sigh but let him push me forward until I am standing just a few inches before the wall.

"Put your hands on the rock," Loki commands, and though I am tempted to throw him an exasperated look, I do as he says. "We must be close to the outside world, even though it does not seem so given that there is a wall here. But if there are people close on the other side, you should be able to sense them, correct? It's going to be difficult for you—these will most likely be strangers to you, plus you're going to have to try to 'see' through stone. I will keep physical contact with you so that I can send you some energy."

"There's no way it's going to work. You're seriously overestimating my abilities."

"Just try. What have we to lose at this point?"

I close my eyes and try to focus my mind, first starting on the physical sensations to clear my mind. I feel my heart beating in my chest, the rough, cold stone against my hands, Loki's hands against my back. I focus on each sensation for a moment before tuning them all out, trying to remove myself from the physical to focus purely on the emotional. I automatically reach towards Loki to feel his emotions, a test to see if my focusing has worked, but once again I find he has shielded himself from me.

Once I have steadied myself, I try and look past the stone. It takes me a few minutes, but eventually I push through and my vision lights up with colors. Though the colors seem very dim to me, probably due to the distance between us, I can tell that I am sensing one person who seems very anxious.

"Someone is there," I murmur, trying desperately not to break my tenuous connection to the stranger.

"Excellent; good work. Now this part is going to be even harder. You need to project onto him in such a way that he senses our need and brings others to help us. Is that clear?"

I nod then conjure up the feelings that had risen when I was alone in the cave, when I thought I had lost Loki. I imagine what it would have been like to know if I had not found my flashlight, or if Loki truly had been killed in the cave-in. I let these feelings of desperation and hopelessness grow within me until they are almost overwhelming, then I send them through the stone towards the man. I watch as the dark colors wrap around the man, but as they quickly start to fade, I realize I will need more. I need to summon even deeper feelings within myself.

I imagine Loki lying fatally wounded on the floor of the cave. I rush towards him and kneel beside his face, bringing my hands up to gently cup his cheek. He swallows thickly with the pain and as he blinks, I see a tear slide down his dirt-covered cheek. His eyes are staring towards the ceiling, unfocused with the pain. Each breath he takes sounds thin and labored. I look down his body, trying to find the source of his injury, and see that his back is strangely twisted. When I ask him if his back hurts he nods carefully, almost as if he knows how dire the situation is.

I clutch at Loki's hand as he starts gasping for air, his eyes flying open in fright. "You can't leave me, Loki," I plead with him. I tell him over and over how I need him, but he doesn't seem to hear me.

As Loki's tortured body stills, as his eyes glass over, unseeing, I look towards the entrance of the cave and scream for help until my voice cracks.

I imagine this situation as vividly as I can, trying to feel Loki's skin against my own, straining to hear each gasp of his. I let myself feel the emotions as strongly as I can, until angry blue and black clouds swirl around me.

I breathe out as I let the feelings flow out once again through the stone and into the man. I sense that this time they stick with the man, as I can no longer feel his own emotional state. As these emotions overwhelm him he looks at the stone wall in front of him in terror before fleeing.

I sigh and drop my hands from the wall before wearily sinking down to the ground. Loki loops his arms under mine, as if afraid I'll fall, and helps gently bring me down to the cold rock beneath us. He sits down just behind me and I rest my head against his chest.

"Well he ran away. I suppose we'll see soon if he comes back."

I unwillingly fall into sleep, exhausted yet again, and wake up to find my head cradled in Loki's lap. I look up at Loki to see his eyes closed, though they open just a second later.

"Did you rest well?"

"Yes, although I'll sleep much better back in my bed at the hotel," I tell him. I absentmindedly look up at him to see he is cloaked in warm, content colors. Clearly this is a man who can remain calm in horrible situations. As hi traces his fingers lightly up and down my arms, I clear my throat, needing to discuss something that had been on my mind lately.

"We should talk."

"Mmm?"

The physical contact with Loki is decidedly distracting, causing my mind to wander other places. I push away from him, turning around so that we're sitting facing each other. He slides up to me until our knees touch.

I look down into my lap, a little nervous about having this conversation with Loki. "Our relationship has, um… well it's definitely moved past the point of a mentor-mentee relationship."

"We are also partners in an investigation," Loki replies.

"Yes, but most investigative partners don't… well, they don't flirt with each other like this."

"Barton and that Romanov woman do."

I choke as I try to hold back a laugh. "Touché. But seriously, we shouldn't be doing this. It isn't professional."

Loki's eyebrow quirks upwards. "We have not done anything yet. I have not even kissed you."

"Well, no. But I'm afraid if we keep going in this direction, we'll get to that point. And we just… we can't." The words end in a rush as they all seem to come out of me at once. Having finished speaking, I fold my hands in my lap, staring intently down at them.

A long pause stretches out. Finally Loki says, "This is not about acting professional, is it?"

I trace a crescent-shaped scar on my left hand, at the base of my thumb. I close my eyes and take a deep breath before saying, "Do you feel remorse for your actions?"

When Loki doesn't speak I look at him to see that the colors surrounding him have completely disappeared. He's shutting himself off from me again.

When he says nothing I try again. "Do you regret killing all those people when you tried to take over Earth?"

Loki shrugs offhandedly. "No."

It was the answer I didn't want to hear. I look down at my hands again, unsure of how to continue.

Loki speaks up first. "You will not forgive me for my past actions?"

Something in his tone sets me off. He sounds almost as if he's judging me, and it pisses me off. "Loki, you can't just go around murdering people. It isn't right. I can never completely forgive you for all those deaths that you caused, but if you showed remorse, then I could possibly look over them and assure myself that you're now on a better track. But you don't!"

"What would you have me say? What can I do that will help you to accept me?"

"Apologize! Feel as if you acted wrongly and promise that it won't happen again."

Loki shakes his head. "I cannot vouch for my future actions, and I will not repent for actions that I do not believe were wrong."

I slam my fists against the ground, frustrated. "Well then I cannot trust you."

"You're denying yourself a relationship with me solely because of this? I have not wronged you in any other way."

"You don't understand!" I cry out. "Loki, I deal with liars and murderers all the time. I grew up with people who felt no regret for anything they did wrong. I know these people intimately; I know how evil lurks in their hearts. I know how one minute they are kind to you, and then the next they're stabbing you in the back, both literally and metaphorically. I can't trust you when you're just like them."

I wipe away an errant tear that has escaped my eye and avoid meeting Loki's eyes. After a few moments Loki says quietly, "Would you have me put to death for my past actions?"

I look up at him, surprised. "Of course not. I believe taking a life, in any circumstance, is wrong."

"Any circumstance?" Loki asks, looking surprised. A smug expression crosses his face as he asks, "Would you kill an enemy if he were to cause the death of a loved one?"

"No. Like I said, killing under any circumstance is wrong. Besides, I have scarce enough loved ones to speak of, and none that I would kill another for."

"I see. Well, in that case, I suppose we are at a stalemate. I will never be able to justify my actions to you, as you will never forgive me, no matter what reasons I give you. This leaves you two options: you can either accept the fact that I have wronged, as all do, and get over it; or you can be consumed by your conscience and cast me aside. The choice is yours.

"Or…" Loki says, trailing off as he stares off into space. "Will you give me a chance to prove myself? If I can show you the goodness within me, that I am not this evil person you think me, will you begin to trust me?"

I nod hesitantly, automatically trying to think of ways he could trick me. "You can do your best to convince me."

Just then I start as I see colors flood my vision. They are not coming from Loki, however; I quickly stand up and walk to the wall, placing my palms against the stone. I feel hope begin to bloom within me, causing a warmth to spread through my stomach. "Loki, there are people out there! The man from before is back, and it appears this time he's brought some friends."

"What are they doing?"

My face scrunches up in concentration. "I can't tell, but they all seem very anxious."

I jump away from the wall as a loud grinding noise interrupts us. Loki wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me safely away from the stone before positioning his body in front of me as chunks of stone start flying through the air. When I protest Loki merely cuts me off.

After a few minutes a small crack appears, letting natural light seep into the cave. As the crack begins to open I close my eyes, blinded by the intensity of the light after being in darkness for so long.

The next moments all blur together. I vaguely recall men rushing into the cave, speaking rapid Norwegian. They approach us; half of them going to Loki and the other half to me. They open my eyes and peer into them before investigating the rest of my body for injuries. Before I have time to protest that I'm fine, I just want to go home, they wrap me in a warm blanket. One huge man, who reminds me of a bear in stature, lifts me up and carries me out of the cave into the garish daylight.

I close my eyes and hide my face against bear-man who is carrying me, but they fly open again of their own accord when I feel myself being placed down. When I realize that I've been placed in an ambulance, medical tools and bags of liquid surrounding me, I tell them over and over again that I'm fine, just take me home, but they ignore me, closing the doors as I start to struggle to fight off my captors, not wanting to be parted from the one man who had saved me.

Bear-man holds me down as I trash around, battling against my human restraints. One man seems to take note of my cries and opens the doors, peering out as he calls. A few moments later and he's pushing the door open wider, Loki looking curiously into the back of the ambulance. I relax as soon as I see him and as he gracefully climbs into the ambulance, I smile happily. He sits down next to me, placing his hand over mine, appearing none the worse from our time in the cave. "Relax, Callie. I will always watch over you."

* * *

I spend some time in the hospital being treated for my various injuries. At one point bear-man appears and I blush furiously, apologizing to him for behaving in such a manner before. He smiles at me, pats my hand, and tells me not to worry. It was the "shock" he says. After he leaves other hospital staff come in, patiently recommending that I stay overnight in the hospital to be monitored. I politely refuse and request to go back to the hotel, telling them over and over again that I am truly fine and will heal better while not in the hospital.

During all this time when I am being poked and prodded, Loki disappears into the hallway. When I finally stagger out of my room, slightly high from all the painkillers I'm on, I find him lounging against the wall just outside my room. I wander over to him and poke him in the side, garnering a small smile from him. He tells me that he was talking with various authority figures—law enforcement officials, environmental people, Lars—about our little incident in the cave. I wince when he mentions Lars but Loki merely says, "You have no cause to worry. Although nobody was happy with the fact that we trespassed and almost got ourselves killed, I managed to convince them that there was no need to press charges or send us back to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You're brilliant."

Loki smirks. "I like to think so."

We walk out of the hospital's main entrance, my arm linked in Loki's for support, to find Lars standing just outside the doors, looking pretty peeved. He nods towards me and then silently motions for us to follow him into the parking lot.

Lars drives us back to the hotel without saying a word to us, save for asking me if I am okay. When we arrive at the hotel he stops the engine and quietly says, "Agent Laufeyson convinced me not to send you two packing. However, as that may be, I will not tolerate any more childish, dangerous behavior from either of you. Any wrong step on your part in the future and you'll be sent home within the blink of an eye. I will also be informing Director Fury of your actions, and I cannot vouch for what he will do to you two."

Lars climbs out of the car and then into the house without a backwards glance towards Loki or I. Loki follows me up the stairs, standing just at my elbow, steadying me as I temporarily lose my balance at the top of the stairs. Loki helps me to my room and at my nod, disappears into his own. I quickly shower, wiping two days' worth of grime off of my skin, before throwing on comfortable pajamas and then collapsing into my bed.

* * *

A gentle shaking wakes me from my dream. My heart pounds in my chest as I sit up, a cold sweat coating my skin. I blink my blurry eyes and try to focus on the real world, but all I can see around me is the ruined world that had been present in my dream.

"Callie, you're fine. It was just a dream," Loki says, looking carefully at my face. He places his hands over my own, knotted in my twisted sheets, and upon feeling me shaking, his eyebrows knit together.

"We are safe," he says reassuringly. "We are in the hotel; we are no longer in the cave. Everything is fine."

I look at Loki's face and suddenly blood is streaked across his pale skin. His eyes begin to roll back in his head and I see the pulse at his throat stop beating, still in death.

I whimper and close my eyes as I pull the sheets closer to my body, seeking comfort. Loki frowns at my distress and moves his hands to frame my face, lifting my chin so that I am forced to make eye contact with him.

"Callie, look at me. You're awake and we are fine, okay?"

"I'm scared."

I hear Loki sigh audibly before I feel the bed depress under his added weight. He moves to sit next to me, his side flush up against mine. He wraps an arm around my waist and I lean into his shoulder, trying to control my shaking. Loki similarly leans into me, murmuring softly, "I know what it's like to have horrifying dreams. But truly, they cannot hurt you. I will stay with you, if that helps you."

I nod, my face rubbing against his soft cotton shirt. Loki leans back against the pillow, gently pulling me with him. I gratefully curl into his arms, breathing in his fresh scent as I begin to fall into sleep once again.

I cower in the corner of the pantry, the bag of rice rustling as I rub up against it. I scrunch into a small ball, covering my head with my hands as I pray that I won't be found.

I quickly look up as I hear a quiet footstep on the other side of the pantry door. My breath catches in my throat as I hear the person pause and the doorknob twitch.

_Don't open the door. Don't open the door._

The door swings open slowly, a path of light appearing on the floor of the dark pantry. I close my eyes and move as close to the wall as I can, hoping that I'll be overlooked.

I hear a malicious chuckle as I feel fingers wrap around my arm, tightly enough to leave bruises. I screech as I am forcibly pulled out of the pantry into the kitchen, flailing around as I try to free myself.

"I didn't do it!" I scream. "I didn't tell her!"

I see the kitchen pass by as I am pulled towards the table in the dining room, the cabinets silently watching my journey. I feel my back bump against a leg of the table as the man drops his grip on my arm. _Please, anything other than this._

I suddenly stop walking midstride, turning and looking at my surroundings. As my eyes pass over a small, old gas station and narrow brick-faced two-story buildings lined up against the street, I think to myself that this feels very familiar. Try as I might, however, I cannot place why this place seems known to me.

I shrug and then continue walking, burying my face down into my scarf as the bitter winter wind picks up again. I jam my hands into my pockets and focus on walking a little faster to try and get out of this miserable cold.

The small town is eerily still; even though it appears to be the middle of the day, I am the only person walking on the sidewalk. No cars drive down the road past me, and nobody walks in or out of the stores. I can see no lights on in any of the buildings. It's almost as if I'm the only person in the entire town.

I see the train track crossing in the distance and sigh out in relief, knowing that I'm close to my destination. I smile unconsciously as I dream of being in the warmth but am suddenly startled out of my happy musings by the sound of a car engine.

I turn around and see a small sedan driving up the street, going at a pretty fast clip. As the car approaches me the driver suddenly slams on the brakes, coming to a stop. The window on the driver's side rolls down and then I see Loki lean out, calling, "Want a ride?"

I giggle and shake my head, knowing that I'm close to home. Loki shrugs and rolls the window back up before flooring the accelerator, leaving me behind without a backward glance. As a loud crack and a screech cut through the air, I feel sudden panic and dread fill me.

The soles of my shoes slap against the cement as I run towards the car, knowing I have a limited amount of time to reach it. The distance between us never seems to lessen, however, no matter how quickly I run. It remains out of my reach, too far away for me to help.

I scream as I hear the sound of crunching metal and glass, as I see Loki's blood spatter out onto the road. I fall to my knees and beg for another chance to try again, promising that I'll do better next time.

"Callie, wake up."

I slowly stand up and look around in confusion, not seeing the speaker.

"Wake up."

I open my eyes, blinking away the tears that threaten to brim over. As my brain catches up I become aware of Loki sitting next to me, holding one of my hands in his own and staring at me in concern. He reaches up with his free hand to brush the tears from my cheeks.

"You have had many difficult trials these past few days. It is not surprising that you are not sleeping well."

I nod, not saying a word.

"What were you dreaming of?"

I merely shake my head, not wanting to share with Loki that I dreamed his death and that it shook me more than I could have thought possible. Instead I press tighter against him, gripping his hand tightly as I try to force the disturbing images out of my brain.

"What would you like to dream of?"

When I don't answer he gently bumps his body into mine. "Callie?"

I draw in a deep breath of air. "Um…" I say, reaching a shaky hand up to my face to rub it. "I don't know… I suppose I would like to be walking along the coast, on the beach. Maybe horseback riding in the turf. Or building sandcastles with a friend, or finding seashells. Just enjoying the sunshine and the cool breeze. And then watching the sunset over the ocean as the sky blazes red and orange."

Loki nods. "That sounds lovely. Who would you like to spend this day with?"

_You_, I think to myself, but instead I say, "Really nobody in particular. Just a friend."

Once again Loki tugs me backwards so that we are lying back against the pillows. "I fear you will not rest well for the rest of the night, so I will help guide your dreams so that you can sleep in peace."

"Guide my dreams?"

"It is a simple trick I learned over the years. I can use my magic to create dreams for you. I will create the basic framework but your mind will fill in the details. I'll make sure your dreams do not stray into nightmare-territory."

"Thank you," I whisper, truly meaning it. As I close my eyes I feel colors pouring off Loki, the first I've felt them tonight. He is mostly curtained in shades of pink and gold, indicating his trust in me and his care for me. Though the blue is still there, it is greatly dwarfed by the emotions of friendship for me.

I sigh happily and allow myself to slip into my dreams as I hear Loki whisper, "Sweet dreams, Caroline. I will protect you for the rest of the night."

* * *

I sit on the sun-warmed sand of the beach, content to watch the waves pound against the shoreline. Foam surges up on the beach before being washed back into the water. I see seagulls flying above, looking for food, while crabs scavenge near me on the sand.

I hear a whistle and look down the shore to see somebody walking towards me, two horses following behind, one black and the other grey. I stand up as he approaches and give him a smile as he hands the reins to me.

We mount our horses without a word before turning them down the shoreline, letting the horses gallop. I lean forward, my horse's mane whipping against my face in the wind, resting my hands against her warm neck. I let out a whoop of delight, noticing my companion smile in response.

I let my horse wade into the water, feeling the spray flick up against my legs as it coats the underside of her belly. The cool water is a nice contrast to my heated skin and as I feel happiness wash over me, I silently wish that the moment will never end.

After we ride for some time, my companion pulls up his horse and I do the same. He motions towards the beach, empty of any other people, before dismounting his horse and leading him over to a patch of glass on the dunes above the sand.

I let my horse join my companion's before I sit next to him down on the beach. He starts pushing the sand around with his hands and I realize that he's trying to form a sandcastle. I join him and before long, we have made a shitty, unstable sandcastle.

My companion sticks a shell on top of our tower, smiling triumphantly. He then points towards the horizon and I look, unsure what he sees.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Do you see the beautiful sunset?"

I squint but see nothing, just the sun in a colorless sky. "I don't see any colors."

He looks at me a little sadly, saying, "You will someday. I am certain of it."

I wake up then, noticing from the streams of sunlight coming through the cracks in the curtains that it must be early morning. I start to roll over onto my side but am stopped by an unmoving wall directly beside me.

I look over to see Loki lying on his back next to me, one hand lazily cupped around my waist and the other thrown across my stomach. His eyes are closed and he breathes shallowly, his chest rising and falling with each breath.

As I smile, genuinely pleased that Loki stayed to watch over me, I realize that my companion in the dream was Loki. Loki had said that I would fill in the details of my dream, and seeing as I hadn't told him I wanted him in my dream, I figured that was of my own doing.

My perfect dream, and he was the one I chose to be in it with me.

You can't, I warn myself. You know what he is. You know he's a murderer and a liar, and he won't change. They never change.

But as I look upon his sleeping form, I realize that he woke me in the night when he knew I was suffering and stayed with me, even though he did not need to. He did not pry; he merely accepted that I was scared and comforted me. Even more so, he created dreams for me so that I might sleep.

Though still not sure that he won't go on a killing rampage, I realize that there is goodness in Loki, even if it might just be for me.

But maybe that's enough for now.

I prop myself up on one elbow, careful not to disturb Loki. I push my hair back over my shoulders and then lean forward towards Loki's face. I close my eyes as the distance between us disappears, until I can feel warm air rhythmically brushing against my face. I smile and then lean into him, laying a gentle kiss on his lips, noting the soft feel of his lips against mine.

I kiss him for a few seconds, taking in the fresh, peppermint scent of his mouth as I rub my thumb against the smooth skin of his cheek. When he doesn't stir I move back, noticing that a small smile graces his lips.

"You're totally awake," I whisper, smiling as I brush the tip of my nose gently against his. He does not move further so I lay another kiss on his cheek before carefully extricating myself from the blankets. I swing my feet over the side of the bed and stand up, ready to start my day feeling refreshed and happy.

* * *

Author's note: I recently lost somebody very close to me and the grief is affecting me much more than I anticipated. As such, I'm having a difficult time writing (to say nothing of trying to keep up with the rest of my life). This was the last chapter I had completely written, so the story may not be updated as frequently as it was before. I sincerely apologize but I'll be back soon!


	14. The Lie

Unfortunately, my elation does not last long. As I stand at the end of the bed and pull on a thick pair of socks, I take a look at my phone and wince when I see all the messages Fury has left me, most of them demanding to talk to me as soon as possible.

I grab my laptop off the desk and then shuffle my way through the adjoining door into Loki's room, closing the door until it shuts with a soft click. I snag a throw blanket off the end of Loki's bed and carry everything over to the small window seat. I sit down on the cushions and settle the blanket around me as I peer out the window, noting that it is raining once again. Once I am situated, I turn on my computer and then open up Skype.

Fury must have been sitting by his computer just waiting for me to appear, because I receive a call from him immediately after signing on. I hold my breath and accept the call as my stomach does somersaults. I silently hope that my computer will suddenly freeze or lose internet connection.

But, no such luck. Fury's image comes to life on the screen, sharpening as the camera focuses in on his face. I reflexively squint my eyes as I am nearly blinded by the intense red colors emanating from Fury. Fury sees my reaction and leans in close to the screen, almost as if he could reach through the screen to strangle me.

"Do you want to tell me how I'm feeling, Agent O'Connell?"

"Nope, I think that's clear enough," I mutter quietly.

"Well then there's no need for me to waste time communicating my anger to you. Just what the hell were you thinking? Did you even stop to think about the possible repercussions of your actions, or did you just blindly charge in there?"

I take a deep breath and try to relax, hoping that if I calm down, it will rub off on Fury. "I know this looks bad…"

"This looks more than bad, Agent O'Connell. If you don't give me a valid reason for trespassing and almost killing yourself, I am sending your ass packing. I can't knowingly employ somebody who has no regard for personal safety."

"Look, I realize it was an incredibly stupid, dangerous idea. But nothing was happening here! We've been having unusual weather that has completely halted progress on the dig site. Even before then, the team wasn't making any headway in finding anything. And it's not like Thor's showed up to lend us a helping hand, and honestly who knows if he'll ever come back again. Meanwhile one of the team members has become suicidal, and I've noticed that all the others have had depressed moods. Something is happening here, Fury, so what was I supposed to do, continue to sit back while everything goes to shit? You would be even more pissed off at me than you are now! I refuse to just stand here and do nothing while I watch as people slowly begin to lose their minds. I tried to ask you for help but you rejected me, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I won't apologize for my actions. Fire me if you will, but I do not regret what I did."

Fury sighs and stares uncomfortably at me for a few minutes, the colors around him mixing in a confusing flurry as he skips from one emotion to the next within seconds. Eventually he visibly relaxes, soft colors replacing the formally intense ones. His veins decrease to a normal size as his blood pressure drops.

"I cannot say that I approve of what you did, but at the same time, I know others who would have done something similar in your place. I cannot blame you for acting at a time you thought was necessary.

"But just the same, the team leader is not happy with your actions. He wants you two gone and replaced, and unfortunately my authority will only extend so far."

"I can deal with him. Are you going to let me stay or not?"

"Look carefully at me, Agent O'Connell, for I will only say this once. I am willing to overlook this screw-up just this one time. One more misstep and that's it for you. No excuses will save you next time, you understand me?"

I nod, breathing out a deep sigh of relief that I didn't lose the only stable job I've ever had.

"Now tell me, was your foolish mission worth all the risks you took?"

I relay the information Loki and I found in the cave to Fury, carefully neglecting to tell him certain things about the experience, such as me tumbling headfirst down a cave and hearing strange voices. I do tell him about all the paintings we found and how Loki interpreted him. I then decide to push my luck just a bit more today.

"I know the information we found still isn't the definite proof you want so badly, but it is something. This has to be more than just coincidence, Director Fury. If we could have some assistance, and I think it would prove very beneficial."

Fury rolls his eye to the ceiling and sighs audibly, but I can see the agreement wash over him even as he does so. "Fine. I will send the Avengers to you, seeing as they are not making any progress in their own missions anyways. Besides, it is obvious to me that I need people to babysit you and Loki."

I grin broadly and start to thank Fury, purposely ignoring the last insult, but before I can finish, he cuts me off.

"There is one condition, however—you and Loki have to keep your asses indoors until the Avengers arrive."

I gape at Fury. "Inside? What, are we under house arrest?"

"For all purposes, yes."

"Well what are we supposed to do inside?"

Fury throws me an exasperated look. "I don't know, Agent O'Connell. Maybe try going to a library and looking for more information, now that you have more to go off of. But whatever you do, don't you dare go near that cave again. If you do, you'll be out of there and looking for a new job."

Fury doesn't wait for my reply before disconnecting the call. I let my head fall back against the wall as I think back over our conversation. Relief pours over me as I realize that, despite my justified fears, I managed to keep my job. Even though being cooped up inside will be difficult, the situation ended far better than I anticipated.

A soft cough pulls me out of my bliss. I look over towards the adjoining door to see Loki standing there, just inside the doorway of his room.

"Well, we're not being fired," I tell him gleefully. Loki looks disinterested, as I thought he would, but he walks to where I'm sitting in the window seat. He gently takes the laptop off my lap and rests it on his bed before sitting down next to me. He keeps his feet on the floor, legs stretched out before him, but he turns his torso to look at me.

"And what else?"

"The Avengers are coming here," I say, noticing Loki stiffen slightly. "I'm not sure when, but Fury said he would send them. We have also been ordered to stay out of the cave and do something safe instead."

Loki cocks an eyebrow at me. "Something safe? Is that even possible when you're around?"

I stick my tongue out. "Rude. Fury suggested we might try researching in a library now that we have more information. I know Anders once mentioned a library here in town that has some old sources that may potentially be of use. So shall we?" I stand up and hold out a hand to Loki.

"Can you promise that I will not be crushed by a falling bookshelf?"

I prop my hands on my hips and glare at Loki. "Can you promise that you'll keep the sassiness to a minimum?"

Loki sighs, smoothing his hands over his thighs. "I suppose, for you, I can behave like a well-mannered gentleman. Just lead the way."

* * *

The car whooshes into one of the empty spaces in the deserted parking lot, disturbing a deep puddle and sending water sloshing all over the pavement. Solveig puts the car into park and then fidgets with the keychain hanging down from the ignition. Other than the slight jingle of keys hitting each other and the splash of raindrops against the windows, no noise breaks the silence filling the car.

"So, we're here?" I say, smiling weakly at Solveig.

Solveig's hand immediately drops from the key and she turns to face me, a harsh expression straining her delicate features. "I am not supposed to leave you two unattended, but seeing as I have work to do at the hotel and you two seemingly have some professional duties of your own, I am left with no other option. Don't try to be clever or tricky; there are no bus lines that run past the dig site, and we would catch you long before you reached the site if you tried to walk. I will be back to pick you two up in four hours. If you are not here, I will immediately alert Lars and you two will be deported. Do I make myself clear?"

I nod, doing my best to appear acquiescent. Loki nods in kind and with that Solveig inclines her head, indicating we can get out of the car. I unfasten my seatbelt as fast as humanly possible and open the door, stepping out into the downpour.

I slam the car door shut and pull the hood of my sweater up over my head as I look at the library. The three story-tall building towers over me, light from the numerous windows lighting up my face and the otherwise dark, gloomy outdoors. A trim of dark red brick lines the bottom few feet of the walls; the rest of the walls are covered by a chestnut clapboard. Two glass doors mark the entrance, framed by large stone columns. The building has clearly been renovated recently, and probably expanded as well.

Loki hurries into the safety of the building, not taking a spare moment to look at the surroundings. I shake myself, raindrops flying off the brim of my hood, as I come to my senses and head in towards the building. As the glass door swings shut behind me I hear the car pull out of the parking lot.

Loki and I stand just inside the entrance of the library on absorbent mats. I shake myself off, not wanting to track water through the beautiful building. As I do so I say to Loki, "Sheesh, we do one thing wrong and suddenly we're on lockdown."

"How is this so different from my situation?"

I pause. "Well we didn't kill people, for one thing."

"But it could have happened. You could have killed yourself, or those people who came to rescue us could have suffered fatal injuries. Does my punishment seem just to you given this circumstance we're in now?"

"Yes," I huff as I wander further into the library, not wanting to think too much about Loki's crimes and his punishment.

Now inside the main body of the library, I see rows and rows of shelves filled from top to bottom with books stretching far back into the building. I take a moment to simply close my eyes and deeply breathe in, taking in the scent of aged paper and ink. The library does not have the musty smell I've experienced in other libraries, but the presence of the books is still prominent.

I open my eyes slowly, smiling unconsciously as I take joy in being surrounded by books once again. One color rushes into my vision, blocking out the books dancing before my eyes; a content yellow glow comes from behind the main desk, sitting just a few feet in front of us before the first of the bookshelves. I look at Loki and nod towards the woman, indicating we should approach her.

As we grow closer I see the yellow glow belongs to a middle-aged woman sitting primly on a stool behind the bench, her head bent over a book held open in her lap. A few errant hairs escape from the neat bun on top of her head. Her attention remains so focused on the book that she does not hear us reach the desk.

"Excuse me?" I say softly, not wanting to startle her. She looks up quickly, surprise evident in her dark brown eyes. She pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose as she looks the both of us up and down. Her happy yellow color starts to sour as her unhappiness with the interruption starts to take over her emotions.

"How can I help you?" she asks, no trace of a smile or welcoming gracing her face.

I look at Loki a little uncertainly, not sure how much of the situation we're supposed to share with other people. "Um… we are some outside experts engaged on the archaeological dig discovered a few miles away from here. We recently discovered some evidence that indicated people used to inhabit this site, and what's more, that they might have practiced some kind of religion. The clues we found were vague so we were hoping to learn more about the religion practiced in this area. Maybe it can help us learn more about the lifestyle of these people."

She cocks an eyebrow. "Might you be more specific? Time, place, anything about the religion in particular?"

Loki pitches in this time, supplying her with all the details that have long since escaped my mind. He stresses the importance of twins and their possible relation to the archaeological site.

"Hm… let me see." The librarian turns to her computer and starts typing. She looks at her computer for a few long, uncomfortable moments, seeming to forget that we're standing there.

"Well, quite a lot of results are coming up. Your topic is a little vague, so I feel like a little finesse might be needed to find the location of hard sources in the library directly relating to your area of interest. Why don't you two start on the computers off to the side and I'll continue trying to refine the search. We have a number of websites documented on the computers that might be a good place to start."

"Great, thank you," I tell her, heading off towards the computers she indicated. Even though my fingers itch to page through the books in this great library, I know I should do as the librarian suggests. Loki trails behind me, looking around at the books surrounding us.

I sit down at a computer and motion for Loki to sit next to me. "I'll look at some of the websites they have listed here, so why don't you just try some general search engines. Maybe you can find something given the information we found yesterday."

Loki turns to the computer and starts typing, seeming to remember what I had taught him earlier, so I turn to my own computer and start browsing through the webpages. I start on some online archives of old Norse religion and culture, particularly in the Alta region. My searching also leads me to a few general Norse mythology sites.

The minutes trickle by without me finding anything pertaining to the twins. I push my chair back from the computer and scoot over towards Loki, glancing over his shoulder at his computer.

"You're on the Wikipedia page for yourself?" I playfully smack him on the shoulder. "That doesn't seem to be relevant."

"I do not understand this strange Midgardian speech. What does it mean when it says 'Lokiz positizzle relations wit tha godz end wit his bangin role up in engineerin tha dirtnap of tha god Baldr'?

I lean forward over Loki's shoulder, eyes widening as I read some of the page. I start to laugh. "Loki, what search engine did you go to?"

"I went to the location you showed me earlier… I couldn't remember its complete name but I did remember that it was very unusual. I just started entering words onto the computer and some site called Gizoogle came up, which sounded correct to me."

I rest my head against Loki's shoulder as my body shakes with laughter. When I manage to calm down enough to speak, Loki fixes me with a confused look.

"Will you elaborate as to what you find so hilarious?"

"The search engine I told you about earlier was Google, Loki. Gizoogle is basically the ghetto version of Google."

Loki's eyebrows raise as he processes this information. "I see. But why does it exist?"

I chuckle and clap Loki's shoulder as I turn back to my own computer. "Solely to mess with gods like you. Well, as neither you nor I have made any progress on the internet, I hope our librarian friend comes up with something soon."

Loki and I waste a few more minutes on the internet before the librarian approaches us. "I hope you have had some luck on the internet, but if not, I have found some books that may be of use to you. If you would follow me…"

Without waiting for us, the librarian turns and starts walking towards a staircase located in the back corner of the library. Loki and I follow behind her, walking up the stairs and down winding hallways before stopping before a small, wooden door that the librarian unlocks.

She pushes the door open and steps in as she flips on the light switch, her high heels clicking on the wooden floorboards. As the lights flicker on, I see we're standing in what appears to be an older room, possibly a part of the original library before additions were added. The room is filled with bookshelves that run from floor to ceiling, each filled completely with books. "This is where we keep some of our older sources," she says. "The books I have written down on this slip of paper can all be found in this room, and they may contain the information you desire. The books are not to leave this room. There is a table in the back of the room where you can examine the sources more closely, if you wish."

The librarian hands me the slip of paper and then edges back towards the door. "I will leave you two alone here. Should you require my assistance, I will be back downstairs by the desk."

"Thanks," I say as she exits the room, closing the door quietly behind her. I look down at the piece of paper in my hand, noting that about ten books have been written on it. I neatly tear the slip of paper in half and hand one piece to Loki, saying, "This will go faster if we split up. You find those books and bring them to the tables in the back. I'll do the same with the books on my list. Then we can look at the sources at one time, rather than running around back and forth."

Loki nods and then disappears behind the bookshelves, setting himself immediately to the task. I pause for a moment to examine the list, trying to understand the bookkeeping system in this library.

Once I think I have ascertained the basics of the system, I set to work combing through the books in the shelves nearest me. I pull out one large volume, its binding withered and worn. I set it to the side and then continue looking for the rest of my books, piling each book on top of the first.

I have to wander further into the room to find the last book on my list. The lighting is a bit dimmer back here in these stacks and I glance around, the atmosphere making me feel a little jumpy.

I run my fingers over the bindings as I look for the title in an unfamiliar language. When I see the title jump out at me from the top row, I stand on my tiptoes and reach up towards it.

A pale hand reaches from behind me and grasps the book, firmly pulling it out. I gasp before realizing that it's only Loki.

I turn to Loki as he sets the book on a small table just behind him before turning back towards me. A wolfish smile sits on his face.

"Scared of the dark, are you?" he chides me.

"I was just a little too absorbed in the books; I didn't hear you approach. I've found the last of my books, and I'm assuming you've found all of yours, so should we get started?" I say, trying to edge past Loki towards the end of the aisle.

Loki lazily throws an arm out to stop my progress, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I don't think we're quite ready yet."

I narrow my eyes at him. "Why are you smiling at me like that? It's a little creepy, to be honest."

Suddenly Loki's hands descend on my shoulders, propelling me backwards until my back lightly hits the bookshelf. His hands drop to my waist as he pulls my body tightly against his own, leaning his head in towards my ear.

"You were correct; I was awake," he whispers into my ear.

Even though the change in topic is sudden, I know what he's referring to. I think back to this morning when I left Loki sleeping peacefully in my bed. "Why didn't you say anything?" I whisper back, hardly daring to breathe lest I ruin this moment.

"I thought I was dreaming. I didn't want to wake prematurely."

"What made you realize you weren't?"

"You seemed a little too cheerful this morning."

I punch Loki playfully on the shoulder, smiling at him. "Are you calling me a grouch?"

"Never." One of his hands lets go of my waist to reach up to my face. He strokes a finger gently across my cheek before cupping my cheek in his hand. "But it was also the way you looked at me this morning. I knew I could never dream something so beautiful as your smile when you saw me."

Before I have the chance to say anything, Loki leans his face in close to mine, his eyes clenched closed. I close mine in turn as I feel his lips brush lightly against mine. My senses all kick into overdrive and I become hypersensitive of everything: the slight chill emanating off of him, the fresh peppermint scent cloaking him, the dark red color bleeding from him into me. He holds the contact with me for a few brief seconds before pulling away.

Unsatisfied, wanting more, I grasp the collar of his shirt and pull him back to me, my lips seeking his. I sigh as we reconnect and throw my arms around his neck, pulling his body in close to mine.

We stay this way for a long, blissful moment before Loki hurriedly backs away, neatly stepping out of the hold of my arms. He fixes me with an intense look as I realize that he was reacting to the sound of high heels clicking against the floor.

"Oh, here you two are," the librarian says, looking at us suspiciously, no doubt wondering what we were doing so quietly in the dim stacks. "I found another book that potentially could be useful. Unfortunately the title has been rubbed off of the cover due to age, but it is easily identifiable due to its dark blue cover and binding. It is the only one of its kind in the room, so just look for that color."

Loki and I nod our understanding and murmur our thanks as our librarian friend turns and walks back out of the room, leaving us alone once again. "I'll start carrying our books back to the table if you want to look for the new book," Loki says. Before I have time to protest, he disappears.

I look up at the shelves, my mouth suddenly gone dry.

_Don't panic, Callie_, I tell myself reassuringly as I swallow thickly. _Just look at the books. That's all you need to do._

I walk down the aisle, peering intently at the books, looking for any signs of the color. When I reach the end of the aisle without seeing a flash of blue, I turn around and look at its partner bookshelf.

Towards the middle of the aisle I find a book that stands out from the others, so with a sigh of relief, I pull it out from the shelf and then head back towards the table to find Loki.

Loki is sitting at the table in one of the uncomfortable-looking wooden, straight-backed chairs, one of the books already open in front of him. He turns the pages carefully, scanning them for any relevant information.

I set the book down with a thud on the table, causing Loki to turn and look at me. "Found it," I say smugly. "Have you found anything interesting yet?"

Loki shrugs and turns his gaze back to his book, his eyes flicking briefly over the book I've found as he does so. He says nonchalantly, "Possibly. You didn't find any other blue books when you were looking for that one, did you?"

"Nope. One-of-a-kind, apparently. It stood out pretty clearly."

My smugness dissolves in an instant as I find myself suddenly pushed against the nearby wall by Loki, his body blocking mine. He traps my wrists in his hands and thrusts them up against the wall, above my head. He squeezes them forcefully and I try to avoid wincing.

"Loki, what the hell?" I gasp, tears burning my eyes as he painfully twists my wrist.

"You lied to me," he hisses.

"I don't know what you're talking about. And let go, you're hurting me."

Instead of letting me go, Loki grips me tighter, forcing his body against mine as he seemingly attempts to crush me between himself and the wall. He stares into my eyes, unblinking and unspeaking as I see angry red waves flow out around him.

I wriggle against Loki's body, trying to squirm out of his grasp. When I find myself unable to escape, I focus on trying to project onto him.

"Cease that," he says angrily, continuing to twist my wrists until I gasp in pain. "You have been lying to me ever since we have met, and I am not happy about it. I do not like being lied to, especially when I placed so much trust in you."

I grit my teeth as I respond, "I still have no idea what you're talking about."

"Your abilities, Agent O'Connell. I doubt that you have them."

"What!" I burst out, continuing to fight against Loki. "I have never been wrong in reading emotions, and you know that. You know that I can project onto people and heal them. I have even been able to read you. How can you think that I don't have this ability?"

"I think you are very talented in reading and interpreting body language, but I think that is the extent of your abilities. Because you describe seeing emotions as seeing colors, _yet you cannot see color_, can you Agent O'Connell?"

I stop struggling against him, my body gone limp. "How do you know that?" I whisper, my mouth suddenly dry.

"That first time we went to the dig site, Lars told you to walk over to the red bench. You sat on the blue one. I shrugged it off at the time, figuring you had just forgotten or hadn't been listening in the first place. But then just now the librarian pointed us to that blue book. You picked up a green one, and when I asked you, you seemed convinced it was a blue book. That's why you can't drive, isn't it? Because you can't correctly interpret the color of signs or stop lights, so you could never pass a driving test. You cannot see color, so how can you see emotions as such?"

Loki shakes me with these final words, my head rolling on my neck. When he stops I close my eyes and whisper, "Now you're the one judging me without knowing the full truth."

"Oh really? There was a reason behind your lying, perhaps?" Loki shoves me away from him, my head snapping back against the wall. "You disgust me. You are a hypocrite. You cannot forgive me because I took human lives, saying that there was no possible justification for my actions, and yet you yourself think you can lie because you have a good reason for it."

"Will you listen to me for just a moment?" I ask quietly, opening my eyes to look at him, seeing the bright red anger swirling around him furiously.

Loki crosses his arms against his chest, squaring his body towards me. "By all means, please talk. I am quite curious to hear why you thought you could lie to me, the god of lying."

I look down as I drag my foot against the wooden floor, not wanting to look at Loki anymore. I smile sadly as I say, "You're right. I can't see color, and I never have been able to."

Loki tenses up, almost as if to attack me, but I calmly continue on.

"Humans sense color with special cells in the retina, a part of the eye, called cone cells. There are different types of cone cells which allow people to see different colors. People who have color blindness are missing one or two of those types of cone cells, which means they have problems distinguishing the colors associated with those cones. I, however, was born with a condition called rod monochromacy, which means that I don't have any cone cells at all. It's an extremely rare condition, especially in girls, so I was just unlucky. I am incapable of seeing any color; I can only see shades of white, grey, and black, and it's been that way my entire life. That's why my greatest wish is to dream in color, because I know I will never see it in my waking life.

"But I have never lied to you," I say, my voice shaking with emotion. "Never. I never told you that I could see color, at least when not related to emotions. And as for sensing emotions as colors… that wasn't a lie, either. Even though it's completely ridiculous, I do truly see emotions as colors."

"You lie still," Loki hisses, his eyes narrowing. "How can it be possible for you to see emotions as colors when you do not even know what colors are?"

"I don't know," I say honestly. "I can't explain it, and I won't pretend that I know how it works. That's why I have never told anybody the full truth of my abilities before. I tell them that I can read emotions and feelings accurately, but I don't tell them how I do it. They assume that I'm merely reading body language, and nobody is the wiser."

"There is no way that this can be the truth."

As Loki turns his back to me and starts to walk away, I say, "If you stick around for a few more minutes, I'll tell you how I developed my abilities. Maybe then you'll believe me."

Loki stops, his shoulders dropping as he exhales deeply, and then turns around and walks back to me. "I will give you one chance to redeem yourself."


	15. The Stranger's Gift

The bell chimes merrily as I push open the door, the bitter cold air hitting my face as I step outside. I linger for a moment, wanting nothing more than to stay in the welcoming warmth, but eventually let the door swing shut behind me with a dull thud. I let my breath out with a huff, noticing the small clouds that form and linger before disappearing. I push my face farther down into the collar of my worn winter coat to protect it from the harsh wind, snuggling my nose into the soft lining.

I shiver as I walk away from the convenience store, the plastic grocery bag bumping against my leg. The stores lining the main street of our small town all sit in darkness, deserted. Only the convenience store sends out a scarce amount of light on this gloomy, overcast day. The sidewalks and streets are completely empty; no wonder on such a cold day. I wouldn't have left my house either if I had a choice. Unfortunately the discovery that we had no flour left sent my mother into a panic, and thus I was shooed out of the house to go buy more.

I hurry towards home, walking along the street towards the train tracks. My eyes remain fixed on the feet to avoid the sharp sting of the wind. As I skirt a frozen puddle, however, the loud roar of a car engine forces me to rip my eyes away from the pavement and look behind me, towards the sound.

A small sedan flies past me and I follow its motion, stopped still in my tracks. The car nears the one train crossing in our small town without yielding. I shake my head. Just last summer someone was killed when their car stalled on the tracks, and even though our community members fought for more precautions by the train tracks, we were denied. All that stands near the track is a sign warning drivers to slow down and look, for there are no lights to signal an approaching train.

I hear a clunking noise as the tires hit the first part of the tracks but then the relative stillness of the town is shattered by a loud screech. The car immediately halts, coming to rest dead center over the second line of tracks. As I stand frozen in shock, I hear the engine desperately trying to turn over. The driver tries again and again to restart the engine, but some mechanical failure dooms its efforts. I know the situation is hopeless.

I rack my brain, trying to remember how recently a train last came through our town. Is another one due to come through soon? I cannot remember exactly, but just the same, I break into a light jog and head towards the car. Better to get him out of there and be on the safe side.

Just then I hear a train whistle call in the distance, its piercing scream breaking through the stillness, clearly heading towards the town. The plastic grocery bag falls from my hand as I start sprinting towards the car, adrenaline rushing through my body.

"Get out!" I scream at the car as I run, the cold air burning my lungs. The driver sits motionless in his car, oblivious both to my warnings and those of the train's. My feet pound against the asphalt as I race towards the car. I don't bother to slow down as I cross the first set of tracks, hitting the side of the door full speed and causing the driver to look up in shock at the impact. I ignore his confused look and urgently pull on the handle. Finding the door locked, I beat on the windows with my mitten-protected hands and shout, "Get out! You have to get out, there's a train coming!" The driver looks confused but hesitantly unlocks the door, and I waste no time in flinging it open. "Hurry up!" I yell as I struggle to unbuckle his seatbelt with shaking hands. "We have to get out of here!" The sound of the nearing whistle breaks my thoughts, and I struggle to keep myself together in the face of nearing death. "Hurry up hurry up hurry up!"

Finally I manage to free the man of his seatbelt. I pull on his arm, hard enough to leave bruises, forcing him out of the car. I drag him away from the railroad and our feet slap against the pavement as we run for our lives. I pray that we will both be lucky enough to survive this.

When I hear the sound of screeching metal, I push the man down onto the road and then leap onto him, covering him. I had the good fortune of never having witnessed the collision between a train and a car before, so I wasn't sure just how cataclysmic the event would be. I don't want the man I just rescued to be fatally injured by a piece of flying metal.

I stay in this position until the train's horn ceases blaring and I can no longer hear the car being pummeled about. I slowly stand up and turn around; I see the destroyed car lying mangled on the side of the tracks and the train slowing to a stop. I shudder as I think of what might have occurred had I not pulled the man out of his car.

He is getting to his feet as well, eyes wide at the scene that moments earlier, he had been in. He stares at the car and train for a few moments and I use the time to examine the man I've rescued. His hair is long but appears clean and is neatly combed. He is dressed in a plain sweater that seems a little too small for him and nondescript blue jeans. Although taller than me, it isn't by much. His face is round and dominated by a nose that is a little too large, but other than that he seems to be an attractive man.

As if noticing me staring at him, he turns his piercing gaze on me. I uncomfortably stand there as he stares, unsure of what I should say or do. He then lays a hand on my shoulder and says in a strange accent, "I thank you, Miss Caroline Calais O'Connell. It takes a brave soul to perform an action such that you did. Although it is no wonder that you possess such a great measure of bravery, seeing all the obstacles you have faced in your short life."

A smile softens his face as he takes note of the confusion and fear crossing my face. "You have nothing to be alarmed of, beautiful Caroline. I know all about you."

Well that's not creepy as hell.

"You are an extraordinary person, and you possess gifts of which you are presently unaware. I cannot make everything right for you, nor can I give you that which you most desire, but there is something I can do for you in return for saving my life at the risk of losing your own. Close your eyes, Caroline."

I'm not sure why I put trust in this complete stranger who seems to lack common sense. But for some reason I do what he says and close my eyes. I feel the hand on my shoulder lift and move to rest over my eyes. He whispers something in a strange language, and I feel a coolness pass over my face. His hand then drops as I open my eyes.

The man smiles again at me then places a gentle kiss on my forehead. "I hope that my gift helps bring more joy and ease into your life. You may not notice it right away, but you soon shall. I hope that we meet again soon, though preferably under different circumstances."

With that he turns and starts walking away from me. I shake myself, trying to force rational thoughts into my head, and run after him. "Wait!" I call. He stops and patiently looks back at me, waiting for me to catch up. When I reach him I said, "Sir, I think you might be a little shaken up. I should take you to the hospital to get you checked out and make sure everything's fine."

The man laughs, a short, breathy laugh. "No need child, I am perfectly fine. You, however, should go home and sleep. It was an honor to meet you, Caroline. And here, don't forget your items." He hands me the plastic grocery bag, which I can completely forgotten about, before turning and walking away from me.

As he does so, I feel tiredness overcome my body. The grocery bag in my hand seems to weight a ton, even though there's only a package of flour in it. Maybe the man is right. Maybe I should go home and rest after this crazy situation. As I head down the path that leads towards home, I realize that I had never asked for his name.

I shrug it off, too tired to turn around and chase him down one more time. It won't change anything anyways.

* * *

I stumble in the front door, my head swimming as I suddenly become dizzy. I toss the bag onto the counter and then walk up the staircase towards my room, gripping the banister firmly to help keep my balance. I trail my hand against the wall until I reach my bedroom and then flop down onto the bed, not even bothering to pull down the covers. As my eyes close of their own accord a whisper of the man's voice echoes through my mind: "Soon, Caroline. Rest well."

My mom's disapproving voice wakes me out of my deep sleep some time later. "Caroline, what on earth are you doing in bed? I told you to bake your father's cake when you got home from the store and yet here you are, snoozing the day away. Get up, you lazy child!"

I lift my head off the pillow to follow her orders but even this simple movement causes my head to start pounding and the images in my vision to waver. Nausea overwhelms me so I lean over the side of my head and vomit, almost unaware of my actions.

Even in my state, I can hear the uncertainty in my mother's voice. "Caroline? Is something wrong?"

"Don't feel well," I mumble as I rest my head back against the pillow and fall once again into sleep.

I remember only bits and pieces of the next few hours, or days, whichever it may be. I remember once waking up upon feeling somebody's hand against my forehead. My eyes fly open but I am instantly blinded by the intensity of my surroundings. I clench them tightly shut as the person uses a damp washcloth to wipe the sweat off my face.

From then on I keep my eyes closed, fearing the painful feeling of burning I experienced the first time. I remember somebody trying to give me water, with me choking it up just a few moments later; I remember people standing in my room and talking in hushed voices. But other than that I have no recollection of my illness.

Eventually my fever abates and the nausea completely disappears. When I wake up, alone in my room with the moonlight shining through the curtains, my head feels clear and I am no longer blinded by light. I struggle out of my heavy blankets and put my feet on the cold wood floor, standing up slowly to test my balance. When I find that I feel fine, I walk slowly downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

I gulp the water down standing in front of the sink, downing another after I finish the first. I then stand there for some time, feeling good to simply stand. That simple moment, me just standing in front of the sink absentmindedly, was the last normal moment I would ever have.

"Callie?" my sister Abigail says softly, standing in the entrance to the kitchen. "Are you feeling better?" She swiftly crosses the kitchen to stand before me, reaching out to rest the back of her hand against my forehead. My vision dramatically changes and I step back in surprise, falling to the floor as I lose my balance. Instantly my vision returns to normal and I am left to stare at my sister in confusion.

"What's wrong? Are you still feeling sick?"

"I… I guess so," the words stumble out of my mouth. "I don't know, I must have a migraine or something. I'm going to go back to bed."

Abigail reaches out a hand to help me up but I shudder and ignore it, pulling myself up using the kitchen countertop. I hobble up the stairs and fall back in my bed, breathing heavily.

"What the hell was that?" I mumble. Somehow I know that this isn't a symptom of my mysterious illness; this is something entirely different, and it terrifies me.

I lay in bed for some time, too disturbed to fall asleep. I stare at my ceiling as my head swarms with thoughts, trying to connect what I saw to what happened previously. Eventually I realize that I won't sleep until I get down to the bottom of this. Once again I get out of bed, but this time I creep down the hallway and into my sister's room.

I approach her bed, kneeling down so that I am on the same level as her head. "Abby?" I say softly, not wanting to scare her.

Her eyes open groggily; apparently she had no problems in falling asleep again. "Callie? What is it?"

Instead of responding, I reach out my hand towards her cheek. I have to see if it will happen again, or if the last time was just a fluke. When my fingers are just a hair's length away from her skin, I stop and take in a deep breath before closing the final distance.

Light explodes before my eyes as our skin makes contact. I gasp but keep physical contact with her, staring in awe at what I'm seeing. _What is this?_

Abigail sits up quickly, breaking contact with me, causing the light to disappear just as quickly. She draws the covers up over her lap. "Callie, you're acting really weird. What's going on?"

I place my hand over hers, placed in her lap. Again the lights flash before my eyes, swimming around my sister. They change in intensity, turning from light to dark, swirling and mixing and merging to create different combinations of…

_Color. I'm seeing color._

I drop my sister's hand and dash over to the light switch, flicking on the light. I squint my eyes against the harsh light but manage to keep them open, needing to know if my deepest desires have come true.

But as I scan my eyes around the room, I see nothing different. No colors; just black, white, and shades of grey. I am still colorblind.

"Abigail, come here," I say, motioning for her to come stand next to me. She does so, though I can see the confusion and fright written on her face. She has no idea what's happening or why I'm behaving so strangely. I reach out and touch her shoulder, seeing the colors appear once again in my vision. They disappear as soon as I lose contact with her.

"Girls? Is something the matter?"

Both Abby and I turn to see our mother standing in the doorway, her bathrobe hastily pulled over her nightclothes. The muscles in her face twitch when she sees me standing there, apparently healed.

"Callie, I see you're feeling better, but what is going on?"

"Nothing," I mumble. "I was just going back to bed. Night." I walk past my mother and back out into the hallway, brushing my hand against her as I do so. The colors appear for her too.

I collapse in my bed but with no intention of sleeping again tonight. My heart hammers in my chest and my breathing is heavy. I actually saw color, something that they said I would never do. But how is it possible?

I toss and turn the rest of the night, waiting for the sun to come up so that I can test out my new ability again. I hastily get dressed and then rush down into the kitchen where I find my family, sans father, sitting at the table, eating breakfast.

My mother looks up at my entrance, his eyebrows knitting together in disapproval. "Callie? Are you planning on going to school today? You should stay home; you were just sick."

"I feel fine," I say, sitting down in the empty seat as I grab a piece of toast off the stack in the center of the table. She continues to try to persuade me to stay home that day but I fight all of her advances, insisting that I feel well enough to go back. But truthfully, I need to see if what happened last night will happen again with others.

I make my way to school without incidence and suffer through my miserable morning classes, sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time as I wait restlessly for lunchtime. When it finally comes I rocket down the lunchroom to where I find my sole friend sitting at our normal table, her simple lunch spread in front of her.

"Callie!" Sarah says cheerfully, a smile brightening her face. "I didn't know you would be back so soon!"

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better," I say as I sit down hurriedly across from her, tossing my backpack down onto the ground. "But hey, can you do me a favor? It's going to be weird but just trust me."

She looks at me uncertainly but nods. "Sure, what is it?"

I don't waste time in answering her but instead just touch her hand with one of my fingers. My bleak, uniform world is instantly transformed into one filled with color, the color all emanating from Sarah.

I look more closely at the colors, somehow intuitively knowing that the color I'm seeing is yellow. It shines brightly out from her and as I look closer, I can detect traces of a light pink hidden in the yellow.

"Callie? What are you doing?"

"Don't worry about it." A flash of brown streaks through the yellow, lingering for a few seconds before disappearing.

"That's weird…" I murmur, but before I have time to dwell on it, a voice breaks through my concentration.

"Oh look, how cute. The bitch is back and she's now dating the nerd."

A dark, violent red pierces through the cloud of color surrounding Sarah before I withdraw my hand to face my attacker. "Step off, asshole. Remember what happened the last time you pissed me off?"

The kid blanches and then backs away from the table, saying, "Have fun with your new girlfriend. I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else from a weird bitch like you."

"I've told you before, dogs aren't completely colorblind," I mutter as he walks away. "Stupid ass."

Sarah smiles shyly at me. "I'm glad you're back. They've been a little meaner to me since you've left."

I scoff. "It's because they know I'll pound the shit out of them if they mess with my best friend when I'm here. But don't worry now, I'm back and I'll take care of them."

I pause for a moment as Sarah takes a bite of her sandwich, my lunch lying forgotten in my backpack, completely untouched. "Hey, sorry to prolong the weirdness, but do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Shoot."

I touch Sarah's hand again before asking questions about her saddest memory, things that make her angry, things she fears. With each response I see the colors around her change in response to her mood.

When my questioning session is done I pull my hand away. Sarah gives me a strange look but does not question me, sensing that I'll tell her if and when I'm ready. I look down at my lap and smile uncontrollably, confident now that I have finally seen colors… in the form of emotions.

* * *

My ability develops over time so that I no longer need physical contact in order to sense peoples' emotions. The more I practice, the easier it is for me to discern subtle differences and pick up feelings from long distances away. I tell nobody of my new ability, fearful of their reaction, although my family realizes that something about me is different, even if they can't pinpoint exactly what it is.

One day that all changes. My mother catches me as I pin my brother up against the closet door, confronting him about the money missing from my dresser.

"Caroline, put him down!" she commands, striding towards us to push me away from him. "What on earth were you doing?"

"I was simply asking him if he took my money," I say. "He said he didn't but I know he's lying."

"Don't be silly; your brother would never steal from you, would you sweetie?" she says, patting my brother's cheek lovingly. "Besides, you can't be sure that he's lying."

"I know for a fact he is," I grit out through clenched teeth.

"Oh really? Prove it."

In my frustration I forget my caution in keeping my new ability to myself. I look her firmly in the eyes and say, "I know you're sad, even though you're trying not to show it. You don't feel love from father anymore and you feel like you've been replaced. You feel useless and worthless. You regret marrying him so young and getting pregnant. You regret having me because I've only caused you trouble although you like the other two well enough. You sometimes feel homesick and want to just run away, leave us all behind and start all over again."

The surprise on her face mirrors that in the colors surrounding her. I can also tell that she believes what I said. "You see, just as I can tell what you're feeling, so too can I tell what he's feeling. And he's lying," I state with finality.

My mother opens her mouth and then closes it, walking out of the room with my brother without saying a word to me. Even though nothing happened then, I knew that she would not forget this incident.

* * *

The ring of my cell phone startles me out of my reverie. I answer the phone to find that Solveig is outside and waiting for us.

"Solveig is here," I tell Loki, nodding towards the exit. "Why don't we put the books in a corner over on the table and we'll just ask the librarian to keep them there for us? We can come back another day, seeing as we got nothing accomplished today."

Loki nods and helps me move the books, not speaking to me, causing me to wonder if he has regained any trust in me. I decide not to press the issue; he'll talk to me if and when he wishes to, but I feel like I should add something.

"I know that probably doesn't explain everything. I mean, even I don't really understand it. It seems crazy, doesn't it, to think that one day I can't see colors and the next I see them projected as feelings? I can't justify to you how I am capable of doing this but that's my story. It's your choice whether you wish to believe it or not."

Downstairs I talk to the librarian and she agrees to keep our books saved for us. We then walk outside into the still-pouring rain and into the car, where Solveig greets us coolly. We drive back to the hotel in silence. Loki heads immediately to his room upon arriving while I join the rest of the team, including Anders, for dinner. Afterwards I go up to my room and get ready for bed, tired because of all the time I spent in the past this day.

I sit in my pajamas, snuggled in the sheets of my bed, checking my e-mail on my laptop just before I go to sleep. I hear a soft knock on the door and call out for my visitor to enter. Loki walks in, closing the adjoining door shut behind him.

"You never found out his name."

"No, I didn't. I never saw him again after that day; never heard from him again."

Loki stands at the foot of my bed, playing with the pattern on the quilt at the end of the bed. "He struck you as being unusual?"

"Of course. I mean, he knew my full name despite never having met me before, plus it was weird that he did the whole cryptic 'here have this gift' thing. Plus he just seemed really oblivious to everything, like needing to escape when the train was coming. Although maybe he was just on drugs."

"Did it never occur to you that your ability to see feelings as colors was bestowed by this man?"

"Of course it occurred to me. I dismissed the idea seeing as it's impossible."

"Why would it be impossible? Is it as impossible as you being able to see feelings as colors? For you to see colors at all?"

I shake my head. "People just can't go around giving other people these weird abilities, Loki."

"People cannot, no. But gods can."

I laugh, immediately dismissing the idea. "You think he was a god?"

"Of course. Am I not evidence that gods can travel to Midgard?"

"Well yes, but why… I mean, wouldn't I have known he was a god? Wouldn't he have been intimidating and powerful and awe-inspiring? And… surely a god wouldn't be so stupid?"

The corner of Loki's mouth twitches. "You have to understand, Midgard is very different from Asgard. Things that are dangerous here on Midgard, such as trains, do not exist on Asgard. There are some of us who distance ourselves from the Midgardian world so that when we travel to Midgard, we are unaware of how your technology works or what elements of your world could cause us harm. From the way you described the god you met, it seems likely that he was not stupid, but just oblivious to the hazards of Midgard.

"And if he was in a mortal form, he would not necessarily have been intimidating or awe-inspiring. Whoever this god was, he must have travelled here for some purpose and wanted to remain inconspicuous. So, he disguised himself as a mortal, which meant that that train could have killed him. You saved his life, and so he used his powers to give you a gift that he thought was appropriate. Now the question that remains is who this god was."

"Doesn't sound familiar to you?" I say a bit cheekily.

"It could be any of them. I have never heard of any god bestowing an ability such as yours." He shrugs. "But enough of that. I did not come here to discuss this stranger; I came here because that was not your entire story."

"No, it wasn't." I smile sadly, "Far from it, in fact."

"Will you tell me?"

"You would want to hear more? I already told you how I developed my powers, which seemed to be the thing you were interested in."

"If it is important to the person you are, then yes, I would like to hear it."

"It isn't a happy story," I warn him.

"I'm not used to happy stories anyways," he says, moving to sit down at the end of my bed, facing me.

"Very well then."


	16. Monster

**IMPORTANT WARNING**: This chapter contains sensitive material, including child abuse and implied rape. If you do not wish to read (for whatever reason), feel free to skip reading this chapter-I will do a short recap in the next chapter so that you are aware of Callie's past, but without the gritty details. The next chapter will move on from Callie's past and resume developing Loki and Callie's relationship and the mystery surrounding the dig site.

* * *

"Where's dad?" Abigail says from her seat at the end of the table, pushing the peas on her plate around with a fork.

Mother smiles at her, as if to comfort her, but I can see the strain hidden behind the smile. "Oh I think he just got caught up at work. He will be home later tonight."

A lie. She and I both know what he's doing.

"I'm done," Abigail declares, jumping down off her chair. "I'm going to go play over at Michelle's house."

"I'm done too," my brother Michael says, his feet scarcely touching the floor as he dashes out of the room.

My mother says nothing, even though the food on both of their plates is untouched. Instead she stands up and starts clearing dishes from the table, piling them in the sink. I continue to eat my dinner.

"The electricity bill needs to be paid this week," she says amidst the clatter of dishes, not turning around to face me.

"I know. There's enough money in the tin to cover it."

"Did Mrs. O'Neill pay you extra to cover for those additional hours you spent watching the twins?"

"Yes," I say, suddenly warily. "Why?"

She puts a clean plate on the drying rack and then turns to me. "We're going to need that to pay the electricity."

I shake my head. "No; I just told you, there's already enough money in the tin."

"There isn't, Callie."

I angrily stab a carrot, following its movement as it glances off my fork and rolls off the edge of the plate. "He took it, didn't he."

"Yes."

"And once again, you did nothing to stop him."

"What do you want me to do, Callie? You know how he treats me when I confront him."

My chair scrapes across the floor with a loud screech as I stand up abruptly. "And you know how he treats me when he's drunk, regardless of whether or not I confront him, and yet you stand there and do nothing."

"I've tried to talk to him about it," she mutters under her breath, turning back to the dishes.

"Yeah, fat lot of good that's been. Here's the money," I say as I take it out of my pocket and toss it on the table. "Don't expect me to be a lot of help paying for groceries next week, since that's all I have."

As I leave the kitchen I hear her say, "We'll make it. We always do."

* * *

I hear him stumble in later that night, dishes clinking together as he searches the cupboard for a glass. I hear my mother walk down the stairs and quietly ask him where he's been. He says he's been stuck late at work, although I can hear the slur in his words and I'm sure mother can smell the alcohol coming from him. She doesn't argue with him, though. She just tells him to come to bed soon and makes her way back up the stairs to her room.

I don't see him the next morning before I leave for school and mother scarcely talks to me. When I come home, however, she corners me in the entryway, something clearly bothering her.

I pull off my worn boots as she states, "He's lying to me, isn't he."

"I don't think I should get involved," I say, tossing my boots to the side and then walking into the kitchen. She follows me.

"Please just tell me this one thing. It isn't so hard."

"No," I say firmly. "I'm not getting tangled up in this mess of yours. You and dad need to sort this out for yourselves."

"I'm scared," she says, her lip trembling as her eyes fill with tears.

I whirl around and advance on her. "You're scared? You don't think I've been scared all those times when he comes home, drunk and in a rage, and decides to take out all his feelings on me? Grow up, mother. You need to deal with this."

"Please, Caroline." I can hardly hear her. "Please just do this for me."

We both jump as the front door slams open and heavy boots clunk against the floor. Father strides confidently into the house, tracking mud across the floor as he walks into the kitchen. He sees me there with her, tears leaving a trail down her cheeks, and instantly bristles.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Absolutely nothing," I say as I turn and walk towards the back door, doing my best to control the panic rising in me. As soon as I step into the backyard I break into a sprint, heading deep into the forest as thistles and branches cut up my bare feet. My chest heaves as I try and suck in air, my body demanding more oxygen. Finally, when the house is no longer in sight, I halt, leaning against a tree for support.

I want to run away, to escape from this situation. But even though I can think of countless plans that could take me away from here, I know that eventually I will have to go back in the house.

* * *

I waste as much time as I can in the forest, dreading the thought of having to face my father. I find flowers buried underneath the thick ferns, but even they cannot cheer me up. When the shadows start to stretch endlessly into the horizon and the light begins to fade, I begin to make my way back to the house.

All the lights are off in the house and I cannot hear any noise from inside. Taking this as a positive signal to proceed, I turn the doorknob slowly, holding my breath until it opens without a squeak. I quickly step into the house and then close the door, pausing as I listen for any movement within the house. When I hear nothing but the sound of my own breath, I tiptoe towards the basement, towards my hiding spot that always keeps me safe.

My eyes strain to see as I enter the pitch-black kitchen. I use the counters to help guide my way towards the basement door, but freeze as I hear a noise.

"You told her the truth, didn't you, Caroline."

I look over my shoulder in the direction of his voice, eyes desperately searching for his bulky form. "I told her nothing."

"You lie," he hisses, moving so quickly that I don't have time to react. In the blink of an eye I am trapped between his body and the counters, my wrists restrained so that I cannot fight back.

I try to ignore the fear building up in me, the anticipation of what is to come. "Of all the people in this family, I am not the one lying," I grit out through clenched teeth, resisting the urge to yelp as his fingernails dig into my skin.

"You little bitch."

I collapse to the ground as he begins his assault on me, hands hitting everywhere. I pull my knees up to my chest and shield my face with my arms, not wanting to deal with the questioning looks of my teachers when they see the bruises and black eyes I seem to so often sport. As he continues to hit me, I endure the pain in silence, knowing that any noises will only egg him on more. The only thing I can do is suffer through this moment and hope that the next day will be better.

* * *

Luckily I don't have to deal with questions about the weird bruises on my body the next day, as they're light enough to be concealed by make-up. Still, I spend the day tense as I think of going back home.

My mother pulls me aside the moment I step in the door, forcing me down to the bench and then sitting next to me, taking my hand into her own. Her eyes are puffy and red.

"Caroline, just tell me. It will all end if you just tell me the truth. I'll protect you."

I scoff and pull my hand from her grip. "No, you won't. You've turned a blind eye every single time he's beat me before, so why protect me now?" I stand up and start to walk out of the room, leaving her sitting on the bench.

"You don't think it hurts me when I see the bruises on your face? You don't think I cry when I hear him hitting you?"

I stop in my tracks, coldly staring at her. "I know you don't. I know exactly how you feel about me. I've always been the imperfect child, the one you didn't want. I was the one who sent your relationship with father into a downward spiral. I was the one who forced him into drinking and who condemned us to just managing to pay the bills. In your eyes, I was the one who caused all these problems."

"It's not true," she says, staring down at her hands.

"But it is! Because I can see the truth. I see how you look at the others. You have only love for them, but when you look at me, all you can feel is disappointment and regret. I mean nothing to you."

My mother has started crying again, tears silently falling from her cheeks onto her clasped hands. I hear her whisper "please" and I lose it.

"Fine, since you want the truth so bad, here it is. Yes, he is lying to you. He is cheating on you and has been for quite some time. He doesn't love you anymore. Now he's just using you."

With that my mother folds in two; great, heaving gasps coming out of her mouth. I walk away from her and into my room, grabbing a backpack and throwing clothes into it. Time to blow this popsicle stand before the real trouble arrives.

I shove my toothbrush into the backpack just as I hear the front door open and my father's startled cry. Even though I am on the other side of the house, I can almost see my mother pull away from my father as he reaches out to her to comfort her. And then he knows.

I sprint towards the window in my bedroom as I hear his footsteps pounding closer. I struggle with the lock, my hands shaking as adrenaline floods my system. I throw the window up and then stick one leg through the window just as he enters the room, lunging to grab my vulnerable leg.

His fingers close around my calf with a brutal force, almost bruising the skin instantaneously. He harshly pulls on my leg, sending the rest of my body crashing in through the window, my head smacking against the glass. As I lay on the floor, wincing in pain, he stands up and then starts dragging me through the house by my hair.

"Stop!" I scream. "You monster, let go of me!" I yell as loud as I can, hoping that the neighbors or a passerby will hear and intervene. When that fails, I reach out and grab for the doorframes that slide past me. I struggle to maintain my grip on them, hoping that I can somehow stop this from happening.

He wrenches me loose of my hold with ease, pulling me into the kitchen. He stops dragging me only when he reaches the table, letting go of my hair to grab hold of my hips and lift me up. I flail and trash around as much as possible, hoping to impede his actions, but I am no match for someone so much larger and stronger than me.

He holds my wrists together in one hand, pinned above my head, as he leans his body against my legs to trap me to the table. Out of sight of my vision, he reaches to the side and grabs something. When he brings his hand in back to me, I see that he's holding a knife.

I double my efforts in trying to escape and scream until my voice breaks, but he is unrelenting. As I thrash around I look to the side to see my mother standing there, hand over her mouth. Although she looks horrified, she does nothing.

He brings the knife down to my chest, cutting away the fabric of my shirt but being exquisitely gentle in not nicking the skin. As he reaches the hem of my shirt, he says, "You freak. I always knew you were going to be the troublemaker. First you came before we were ready. I had to scramble to get a job so that I could pay for all your fucking diapers. And you know what? I hated that job. I hated it with a passion, so I quit and got a new one. But I hated that one too. The employers figured out I was slacking off and fired me, and that's been the trend ever since. And coming home wasn't any better, because all that greeted me here were your endless cries.

"And then it was your fucking weird eyes. Not only was I saddled with a kid that I didn't want, but you were screwed up. And it only got worse, because you suddenly changed and knew the answer to all of my secrets. I couldn't even use my drinking or my whore to comfort me anymore because I could see in your eyes that you knew. I knew that you would tell her, too.

"You singlehandedly tore this happy family apart. You were the one who lead us down this road; you started it all. If we didn't have you, we would be the family with the white picket fence and the faithful hound."

He traces the tip of the knife up my ribs as I try to slow my rapid breathing. I close my eyes as he hovers just above my heart, whispering, "I could plunge this knife into your chest and end your pathetic life right now. Nobody would mourn you."

The knife skips over my heart, moving to pause between my breasts. "But that would be too easy. For what you've done, you need to suffer more. You need to be marked, so that everybody you meet will know that you are a backstabber. So that anybody you choose to love will know you will ruin their life."

So saying this, he digs the tip of the knife into my skin, deep enough to draw blood and for me to let loose a whimper. He drags the knife down to my belly button, leaving an open, gaping wound spilling blood across my torso.

He then tosses the knife to the side, not reacting as it clatters loudly against the floor. His hand, now free, roughly grabs my blue jeans, tugging the fabric past my hips.

"Please don't," I croak out, tears welling in my eyes. I know what's going to happen next, seeing the emotions reflected all around him.

He ignores my plea for mercy and pulls my pants down, leaving me completely exposed. Tears flow out past my closed eyelids as I wish myself anywhere other than here.

* * *

The abuse doesn't continue for much longer, as some teachers start to ask a few too many questions and dig a little too deep. With my father's secrets exposed, I am ripped from their hold and placed into foster care.

I spend the next two years shuffled between foster families. Sometimes an unfortunate incident strikes, placing me back into foster care, but other times it's my freakishly accurate reading of emotions that scares my new family into getting rid of me.

Finally I am placed with the O'Connells. The young children find my inability to see color fascinating, though they are much kinder about it than my schoolmates when I was growing up. Mr. and Mrs. O'Connell accept me into their family, thankfully treating me just like their other children. With no more attention and no less, I find myself fitting in and growing comfortable.

They even accept my ability to read emotions. I try to hide this ability for some months after I first move in, not wanting to leave yet again, but eventually it begins to spill out. The O'Connells seem to think nothing of it, however. They just think it's a special gift of mine, and that I should utilize it to best benefit me.

One morning during my final year of high school, I sit at the table with Mr. O'Connell. I eat my cereal quietly as Mr. O'Connell flips through the pages of the daily newspaper. After a few moments he speaks up.

"Did you hear about that murder case, Callie? You know, it's quite interesting. There apparently is a lot of argument about who is actually the murderer. They've called in body language interpreters from all over the US to help read the possible suspects."

Mr. O'Connell fixes me with a knowing look over the rim of his glasses, communicating everything through his eyes. I eat another bite of my now soggy cereal before saying, "Take me to the police station."

Although the police are initially quite reluctant to let an inexperienced, untrained teenager in on the questionings, my foster father is a persuasive man with a number of important connections. For the first few questionings I remain silent, only taking note of the emotional changes. But then we get to Sylvester, and I can't stop myself from speaking up.

I declare Sylvester guilty from the moment I lay eyes on him, and by the time he finally confesses to murdering his wife and children, I am declared something of a genius. The police squad offers me a job after I graduate from high school, which I gratefully accept.

I spend three years working at the police station before I am called in to assist a case that S.H.I.E.L.D. is covering. I come under the eye of Fury and then like that, I become the newest member of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The heartache doesn't end when I join S.H.I.E.L.D.; even though I am still free of my abusive father, I have to deal with others who don't understand my abilities or disability on a daily basis. I meet Stark and the Ice Queen jokes begin. I date men who I break up with, finding all of them liars, cheaters, or just having a few screws lose in the head. I distance myself from everybody, the only people with whom I keep regular contact being the O'Connells and my one good friend from high school, Rachel.

And even though I know I'm safe from the family that made me what I am, I can't help it when I turn around in the parking lot late at night, feeling his eyes on me. I wonder that I will ever be free of his influence.

* * *

I finish my story to find Loki peering intently at me. He says nothing for a few moments, just stares, which makes me feel uncomfortable.

Finally he breaks the silence. "You already are free of his influence."

"What makes you say that?"

"You are a strong woman. You have made your own life. I see nothing of him in you; you are truly your own person."

"That doesn't mean he won't just appear one day and drag me back into that hell."

"But you can fight back now. Think of what I've taught you, Callie. You could turn his own emotions against him to protect yourself."

I mull over this for a moment, not having thought of it before. But Loki is right; I now possess power that I did not have back when he abused me.

"I suppose you're right. But it still… it's hard, Loki. I can't tell people this because they can't relate to me. I just feel so alone."

"You are not alone," he says softly, caressing my hand.

"I sure feel like it most days."

"You are not alone," he merely repeats again, pulling me into an embrace. I close my eyes and lean against his shoulder, taking comfort in his presence as I feel his emotions war with each other.

Tired from digging in the past, my eyes begin to drift shut. Just before I lapse into sleep, I feel sympathy and acceptance wash over Loki, taking over all the negative emotions. I smile, knowing that I have at least one person on my side.

"Thanks, Loki."


	17. Fire and Passion

**A NOTE**: This is a brief summary for those of you who skipped the last chapter. I was going to incorporate it into this chapter but that didn't happen so I'm putting it here in the headnote. So basically, the gist of it is that Callie's father is a scumbag. He blames Callie for the fact that their family survives paycheck-to-paycheck and that he is forced to take jobs which he hates (and is subsequently laid off from). He resents her because she's imperfect and once she can read emotions, he becomes worried that she will reveal his secrets to his wife. An alcoholic, he abuses Callie when he stumbles home in a drunken haze. One day Callie reveals to her mother (who is not much better—she knows that her husband beats Callie but turns a blind eye to it) that father is cheating on her, and when her father finds out, he rapes Callie. Eventually Callie gets placed into foster care and ends up with the O'Connell family. They accept her ability and even go so far as to encourage her to consult on a police case. When the police see how useful she is, they offer her a job, and eventually she falls into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands. Loki comforts Callie after she tells her story and tells her not only that "she is not alone," but also that she is free of her father's influence because she can now protect herself.

Callie's past will be referenced throughout the story, though it won't be as descriptive as before. If I feel the need to put in more graphic details, I'll post another warning.

Sorry that that was dark, but this chapter will be happier!

* * *

Sudden anxiety jolts me out of sleep a few hours later. "Inga," I choke out as I throw aside the covers and scramble out of bed. "I haven't healed her recently." I rush down the staircase, nearly tripping in my haste. It's then that the realization it's still night, and everybody is asleep, hits me.

I pause for a moment in the empty entryway, debating what to do next. Do I go back to sleep and risk missing her the next morning before she leaves, possibly putting her mental health and life in danger, or do I wake her up and insist on continuing her therapy in the dead of the night?

I chew my lip as I think it through, finally settling on waking her up. Better to face her wrath at being woken than have her fall to harm the next day.

I close my eyes and focus on the colors surrounding me. I have to dig deeper to see them than I normally do, as the colors are greatly subdued as people sleep. The reduced variance of emotions also makes specific individuals a bit harder to detect, as they all tend to blur together. I avidly search through the muddled colors until I find the colors that have the force of Inga's personality behind them. I mark the location in my mind and then set out down the hallway, towards the room she shares with two other females.

I knock softly, holding my breath as I hear light footsteps cross the room. Luckily, Inga is the one who opens the door, her eyes dazed from deep sleep. "Agent O'Connell?" she asks quietly. "Is something the matter?"

"I'm so sorry to do this to you now, when you should be sleeping, but we haven't tried our relaxation technique on you in a few days. In order to ensure consistent, um, results, we really need to do the technique often. Would it be okay with you if we just do it for a little bit right now? It might help you sleep even better later."

Inga looks uncertain and a little hesitant so I send out a gentle wave of agreement and relaxation towards her. I notice the tension in her body fade as she nods, closing the door behind her. "Sure, as long as it is relatively short. We can do it in the living room."

I follow Inga into the empty living room. She flips on a lamp and then takes a seat on one of the worn couches. I sit next to her, close enough to rest a hand on her shoulder.

"It will be just like before," I say as I close my eyes, starting to drift off into my task. I first look at Inga's emotional state, now that it's easier to read. I frown, though, as it isn't what I expect—despite the fact that I haven't helped her in a few days, most of the colors surrounding her are cheerful and upbeat. There is little sign of the fact that she was growing suicidal just days before.

Just the same, I project feelings of comfort, love, and happiness onto her, just to make sure I'm not overlooking anything. I do this for a few minutes before releasing her to go back to sleep. She thanks me with a sleepy smile as she leaves for her still-warm bed.

I remain on the couch for a few minutes longer, confused. I scratch my head as I try to think of a reason why she would be okay. Have the twins moved on to another target of the dig team? Have they moved on completely; given up? Has something interrupted their power?

I yawn and decide to call it a night. I won't solve the mystery this night and it might help to talk to Loki about it tomorrow.

* * *

I stand in the forest, arms wrapped around my body to try and trap in the warmth. I can only see a few feet in front of me as the mist is so thick. The damp settles on my clothes, chilling me to the bone.

"Loki?" I call out. "Where did you go?"

I stumble forward a few steps, tripping over sticks and rocks. I try and remember where I am and why I'm in a forest, but the thought keeps escaping me.

I trip over a large root and fall to the ground, hands landing in a pile of moss. I remain on my hands and knees, trying to figure out why I feel so afraid.

"Loki?" I call out again. "Please, are you there?"

Just then I hear a loud crash of brambles behind me. I quickly stand up, looking for the source of the noise and willing my body to be still though it yearns to flee. My muscles tremble as adrenaline flows through my body.

"Who's there?" I call out, my voice wobbling with fear. "Show yourself!"

A thin, reedy voice cuts through the mist. "What's your worst nightmare, Callie? Is it your past, or your future? Shall we find out?"

A demon emerges from the mist, its eyes glowing red. Tentacles swarm out from its body, stretching towards me.

I instantly launch into flight, dodging the trees that attempt to block my path. When I reach a forked path I halt, wondering which way will take me to safety. A simple sign stands at the path. The part that points to the left has a simple drawing of a car on it, while the part that points to the right has what looks to be a house. I stare at the pictures, wondering what they could mean. Eventually I decide for the left path, thinking that it could lead me to transportation out of this future.

I fly down the path, my breath coming in desperate pants as I struggle to remain ahead of the creature. I can hear it further behind me on the path, its feet pounding against the packed dirt.

The mist begins to clear and the trees thin, indicating that I am reaching the end of the forest. I pump my arms harder, willing my body to give up everything it has, as I burst out of the forest.

Before me stands a worn-down car, sitting on train tracks. I rush to the driver's side and try to wrench open the door, but it sticks. I feel my heart drop as I realize that I can't escape now; I have doomed myself to be caught.

I turn around to see the demon standing just behind me, a wicked smile on its deformed face. It laughs before launching itself at me.

I gasp and wake up from my nightmare, struggling to sit up. I find the sheets are wrapped tightly around my body, which means I was probably thrashing around. I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself, telling myself it was only a dream.

I carefully extricate myself from the mess of blankets and then stand up, looking at the clock and noticing that I've missed breakfast. I get dressed and then walk downstairs to find the kitchen completely empty except for a small note lying on the kitchen counter. From Solveig, it says that she went to buy more food and if Loki and I attempt to visit the dig site again, she will hunt us down herself. She further suggests that if we are hungry, we can walk down the street to a little café.

I put the note down and look towards the kitchen entrance to find Loki leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. The space around Loki looks like an artist's palette, shades of all different colors mixed together, some hidden behind layers of other colors. I stare at him for a second, trying to get a grasp on his mental state, but quickly give up. There are simply too many emotions swirling around—uncertainty, shame, embarrassment, regret, and some small flashes of trust. I quickly look away from him, overwhelmed by the constantly changing colors.

Loki clears his throat then says, "You woke up late."

I rub my eyes, remembering my little adventure the night before. "Yeah, I was up kind of late. How about we go to lunch at this café and I'll explain?"

Loki nods and heads toward the door, sliding into a light jacket before stepping outside. I follow him, looking around at our mist-shrouded surroundings. I shudder for a moment, the mist making me recall my dream.

"Well at least it's not raining, right?"

Loki says nothing but trudges in the direction of the café. I follow next to him without saying anything, knowing he still needs more time to process my story and how he feels about me.

The café is most empty of patrons; only one table is taken, occupied by an elderly man and woman. Loki chooses a small table next to the window and hangs his coat on his chair before sitting down. I follow suit, watching Loki closely. It occurs to me that while I've spilled my entire life story to Loki, I still know hardly anything about him, excluding what I've learned from working at S.H.I.E.L.D.

Loki folds his hands on the table and looks at me. "So, what happened last night?"

The arrival of the waitress interrupts my answer. She lays two menus in front of us and then leaves us alone again.

I browse through the English portion of the menu quickly, deciding upon a simple sandwich, before closing my menu and laying it down again. Loki looks patiently at me, his menu likewise lying before him.

"I woke up in the middle of the night because I realized I hadn't healed Inga in a while. I found her and took stock of her emotions but it was weird, Loki. She should have been a mess since I hadn't projected onto her in a while. But she was perfectly fine. If I hadn't seen her before, I never would have thought her to have been suicidal. Do you think this means the beings are stopping their attack?"

Our waitress appears again, bringing us glasses of water before taking our orders. She whisks the menus off the table and then disappears once more into the kitchen.

"It is unusual that Inga seemed fine." Loki pauses, wiping the condensation on the side of his glass. "But no, I do not think the beings are ceasing their attack. Why would they give up now, when they're easily making progress, with nothing to stop them? No."

"What do you think it is then?"

"I cannot say for certain, but they may be temporarily stopping their attack on Inga to plan something bigger. Perhaps they will attack multiple people at once; perhaps they are recruiting more beings to join their cause. Whatever it is, I believe we have cause for concern."

We sit in silence for a minute, both of us thinking over the implications of this new development. I look outside, the mist concealing most of the surrounding buildings. I see a small family emerge out of the mist, walking down the street. A young girl gallops down the sidewalk ahead of her parents, who are walking next to one another and holding hands. All three figures are surrounded in shades of red and yellow. Yet you would not need my special ability to see that the family members are full of happiness and love.

"What's your story?" I ask, not tearing my eyes away from the happy family before me.

"I beg your pardon?"

I turn and look at Loki, whose face is blank under my scrutiny. His emotions indicate that he is comfortable, but I wonder how long that will last under my next topic of conversation. "What's the story with your family? You didn't react as I expected you to last night, when I told you about my family."

"How was I expected to act?"

I turn my fork upside down and draw lines down my paper napkin. "It's not like I tell many people the whole story of my family, but when I do, they all seem horrified. Usually they say things like, 'I'm so sorry,' or they talk about how awful my family was to me, and how most people don't have the same experience. Yet you merely told me that I wasn't alone. It was the reaction of somebody who also has not had a happy story. So what happened?"

The colors around Loki disappear in the blink of an eye. I sigh, thinking that I may have crossed an invisible line.

"If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine."

Loki clears his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He stares down at the table before I notice a small grin pulling the corners of his lips up.

"It's a bit ironic, isn't it? I am also adopted. Yet while I can't say that I was treated as badly as you were, I was… I was not loved. I was used for who I am. I was taken from my home with the intention of being used as a bargaining chip later in life. My true identity was hidden from me. I was always passed over for Thor."

Suddenly I see Loki stiffen in his seat, his upper body turning towards the large window in front of us. "Something is here," he hisses, his body completely still. His eyes flit to and fro, scanning the environment for the source of the danger.

He stands up abruptly as armor shimmers into view over his clothing. As it grows more tangible, I see that Loki is now covered in stiff gold and black armor, the edges trimmed with green. A long green cape flows out behind him and a gold horned helmet sits on his head.

"Get down!" he says harshly to me, grabbing me and pulling me away from the table. He pushes me down onto the ground behind a table next to the wall.

I fight against his iron grip, struggling to stand back up. "You do not need to protect me! I can take care of myself, and I will fight in this battle whether or not you want me to."

Loki's eyes glitter as my words register. He shoves me back down, saying, "You will stay right there. You are not equipped to deal with this enemy."

I start to surge forward out from under the table but find that my body is held immobile by some invisible force. I can wiggle my toes and fingers but that is the extent of movement I am capable of.

"Loki!" I yell out as he strides towards the door, hands held out in front of him as he continues to look into the mist. "Let me go, you bastard!"

Just then the glass in the window blows out and sends shards of glass flying into the café. In reflex I try to throw my arms in front of my face but find that the vise holds me tight. I close my eyes as the shards approach me, expecting them to cut my face, but find that they stop midair and fall to the ground. The shards react similarly in Loki's presence.

The ground shakes beneath me as the forks and knives clatter off the tables, ringing as they hit the hard stone floor. A loud boom sounds through the air and then I can feel something standing outside the café, just in front of the broken window. Unfortunately my position under the table hinders my ability to see the figure, so I have to rely on the creature's emotions.

Delight. Happiness. Familiarity.

I frown. Not what I expected of some mysterious being come to take over the world.

"Loki!" the newcomer heartily booms, the shards of glass on the floor rattling with the volume of the visitor's shout. "I have returned!"

I almost fall forward onto my face as Loki's invisible grip on me disappears, leaving me free to move. I gingerly stand up from under the table, trying to avoid stepping on or grabbing broken glass.

I see Thor standing there, his red cape billowing out behind him in the slight breeze. A large grin dominates his face and Mjolnir is clamped in his massive hand.

Loki stands in the same position as before, his armor shimmering as it disappears from his body. "Thor," he says wearily, sounding annoyed. "Could you have arrived a little less dramatically?"

Thor steps through the broken window into the café, walking up to Loki and throwing his arms around the slightly smaller man. Loki stands there stiffly, not returning the hug.

Thor releases Loki and steps back a few paces, the glass crunching underneath his feet as he does so. "Less dramatically? You thought that was a dramatic entrance? Oh, you should have seen how father and I arrived on Alfheim just a few days ago. It was impressive, even by Asgardian standards."

Then Thor sees me awkwardly standing behind by the table. "And Agent O'Connell is here too! It is a pleasure to see you again." He walks over to me and kisses my hand lightly.

"Thor," Loki says, pulling Thor's eyes away from mine. "Have you news from Asgard?"

"That I do, brother," Thor says, sitting down on one of the chairs at the table Loki and I had previously been sitting at. "Although it is not of the sort you wanted, I imagine."

The waitress scampers out from the kitchen, eyes wide as she surveys the situation. She starts talking in rapid Norwegian as feelings of fear and confusion surround her.

Thor cuts her off, offering a short reply in Norwegian and waving to Loki. Loki sighs and rolls his eyes but motions with his hand. The pieces of glass from the ground rise up into the air, following the motion of Loki's hand, and then reassemble themselves in the window. Loki says a single word and the cracks between the pieces disappear, leaving a perfect piece of glass.

Thor nods at the waitress and smiles before turning back to Loki, clearly thinking his work done. The waitress hurries back into the kitchen, even more confused than before.

"Did I know you could do that?" I say to Loki as I pull up a third chair to the table.

"I cannot reveal everything to you; I must have some secrets." He then turns back to Thor, who is carefully studying me. "What did you learn from Asgard?"

Thor stops staring at me to look at Loki. "I am afraid Odin did not know much of our mysterious visitors, as I was not able to give him enough information to properly identify them. I have been delayed some days because Odin sent some gods and goddesses to the other realms as, um…" He looks to me, clearly struggling to find the right word.

"Ambassadors?" I suggest.

"Yes, you could call them ambassadors. These ambassadors were to make sure that everything seemed in order in these various realms. They talked to the high-ranking of the realms, but apparently nothing strange was occurring in any realm." He shrugs. "It is possible that these beings are from an outlying area, though it is strange that we could not detect them. But what about you, brother; have you learned more about these beings?"

Loki starts rapidly speaking in a different language, telling Thor about what we discovered at the dig site (I'm assuming, at least, since I couldn't understand a single word he said). Thor frowns while Loki talks, seeming to have a hard time digesting this information.

When Loki finishes Thor says, thankfully in English, "This information you have discovered is very interesting. I have not heard of these twins before, which is unusual. However, I will take this information to Odin, who surely will have heard of them."

"Will you be leaving right away then?" I ask Thor.

He shakes his head. "I cannot. It took a lot of energy to transport me here, so I must wait a few days before more is expended. Until that time, I can help you and Loki with your search for more information."

Loki grimaces, seemingly unhappy that Thor is going to be meddling in our investigation. I smile though, knowing that Thor will put his heart into the job.

Our food arrives shortly afterward, much to my surprise. The waitress still looks a bit flurried but the food tastes delicious. After catching Thor staring avidly at the fruit that came with my sandwich, I offer him some.

After lunch we walk back to the hotel. The mist has cleared, offering us a clear view of the figures that stand around in the parking lot outside the hotel.

"It appears we have company," I say, a fast emotional reading identifying them for me. "Seems Fury does not disappoint."

Four heads turn towards us as we enter the parking lot. Thor happily walks over to greet the other Avengers, while Loki hangs around behind me as we approach.

Dr. Banner offers me a shy smile when he sees me while Barton and Romanov nod before turning back to their own conversation. Stark grins at me, the expression on his face full of promises of teasing.

"Agent O'Connell, nice to see you've survived working with Loki these past few days, and that you're still in control of your own mind."

I cast a quick glance towards Loki in time to see the muscles in his cheek twitch and red start to glow around him.

"Stark, nice to see you haven't lost any of the egocentric attitude that defines you so well." I cross my arms in front of my chest, facing Stark squarely.

Banner chooses this moment to step in, saying, "Fury told us that you might have something here. What's been happening?"

When I don't respond, too busy staring down Stark to tell our story, Thor recounts what we told him earlier that day.

When Thor finishes, I look around to see that none of the Avengers look happy. Barton speaks up first. "So whatever we're dealing with here, it has its roots back in evil rituals and is unknown even to the gods."

"We have not checked with Odin yet," Thor corrects Barton. "He will know, if anybody does."

"But what of this sphere? What do you think its purpose was?" pitches in Romanov.

"They were using it to control the villagers," Loki says. A chill runs down my spine as I register what he's saying. "Think about it—the twins brought this sphere back and suddenly some of the villagers changed, doing the bidding of the twins, even when it went against their own nature."

"So what is this, mind control?" Stark asks, sounding dubious.

"In all likelihood, yes. And if the twins still have this sphere, then they could be using it to control the people here, causing them to become suicidal."

"So what do we do?" asks Barton. "How can we stop them?"

Loki shrugs and looks pointedly at me. I hurriedly speak up. "There isn't much we can do now, with the little information we have to go off. We need to find more answers in order to combat these twins. Once we find out more about this sphere and the twins, then we can figure out the best strategy to defeat them."

"What are you proposing we do in the immediate future then?" Romanov asks.

"Banner and Stark, you two should go to the library and see if you can dig up any more information. Loki and I went the other day and pulled out some books that might be helpful; they're still sitting on a table in a workroom. Thor, Romanov, and Barton, you all should head to the dig site. I don't think the Norwegians will let you do much investigating, but who knows. Besides, you should be there for protection in case the twins develop new powers or learn a new attack or something. I suppose Loki and I can go with you guys as well."

"Hang on," Banner says. "These books you found in the library, are they in English?"

I groan, knowing what will happen next. "Not all of them, no."

"Thor should come with us then," Stark says, "for translating purposes."

Thor shakes his head. "Loki would be better suited to this task than I, as his knowledge of ancient languages is more advanced than mine."

Loki nods his consent, although I can see the disappointment flash around him. Negative emotions begin to crop up around Banner and Stark too, the most abundant being distrust.

I frown, not liking how the situation is shaping up. If we are to function as a team, we need to trust each other, and the others aren't giving Loki a fair chance. I take a deep breath and think of the complete trust I place in Loki before thrusting it onto Stark and Banner. Instantly I see them begin to view the situation in a more positive manner.

"We should not waste time," Thor says. "These beings could be growing stronger as we speak. If we need more information to defend the realms against them, then we best set to finding this information immediately."

"Those of us who are going to the dig site, we should put on warm clothes," I say. "It will probably rain later." A thought occurs to me then. "Hey, are you guys staying in this hotel, too?"

"Some of us are," Stark says. "Banner and I are staying in this hotel, though Barton and Romanov have been placed in one downtown, as there wasn't enough room. Thor, I suppose you'll be with them as well."

"Okay. Barton and Romanov, do you guys need warmer clothes? We could borrow something from this hotel if you don't want to run back to your hotel." When they shake their heads I say, "I'm just going to throw on some different clothes quickly. I'll be right back."

I jog to the house, taking the stairs up to my room two at a time. I hurriedly throw on warm, waterproof clothes.

When I finish I find Loki standing in the hallway just outside my room, holding a small bag that he clearly just retrieved from his room. "Hey," I say, "why didn't you mention that thing about the mind control sphere before?"

Loki shrugs. "It didn't occur to me until I heard Thor tell the story again. It made sense then."

"Speaking of Thor, you know that he seems to care for you, right?" I say offhandedly as I start going down the stairs.

I can feel Loki stiffen behind me. "He doesn't. It's just a façade."

"Oh really?" I ask, incredulous. "This is my territory, you know. You can't fool me when it comes to emotions, and I know that he genuinely cares for you."

Now at the bottom of the staircase, Loki turns away from me to look outside the front door and mutters under his breath.

"Can't you see that your family loved you? That they still love you? Why do you think they didn't tell you your true identity?"

"Because they knew I would turn on them," he spits out angrily.

"No, Loki. Because they wanted to protect you. They knew that if they told you, you would turn from them. They knew that if they told others the truth about you they would shy from you. They wanted you to give you a new life. They wanted to give you a chance. They couldn't do that if you believed from the very beginning that you were a monster."

"My only importance to them was for use as a bargaining chip. They didn't truly care about me."

"Yes, they did!" I say emphatically. "Look at how much time they invested in you. They cared for you, nurtured you, educated you. They could have just held you captive and deprived you of things like magic and books. But they didn't! They wanted you to grow and be better. They treated you like a son, Loki. And if they just wanted a bargaining chip, why did they take you, a living being? Couldn't Odin have taken something else from Jotunheim? Living beings must be cared for. They gave too much of their time and love for you simply for you to only be a bargaining chip for them. You are family to them, Loki."

Loki shakes his head. "You don't understand."

"Well then tell me what I don't understand! I want to help you and I want to know you, but I can't if you continue to hide things from me."

Loki turns from me and walks out the door, joining Stark and Banner outside near the rental car. Even knowing Loki can't hear me, I whisper, "Don't shut me out too, Loki."

* * *

I return some hours later from the dig site, tired, cold, and bored. Nothing interesting happened at the dig site, and Lars made sure that I wasn't allowed to do much, given my past actions. I spent the entire time standing around staring blankly at the workers doing their jobs. When I got back to the hotel I grabbed some food from the kitchen and headed back up to my room with it, not wanting to engage in conversation with the others over dinner. I knew that had the others found something interesting, I would have immediately been called into a meeting, so I knew that I could just avoid them for the night. I ate quickly and then threw on some pajamas and laid in bed, reading a book before turning the light out and going to sleep.

A soft knock on my door wakes me up. I close my eyes and hope the person will go away, as I want to slip back into the pleasant dream I was having. When the knocking persists I sigh and call for the person to enter.

Loki quietly steps in, shutting the door behind him. He crosses to my bed and kneels on it next to me, sitting back on his haunches.

"I don't want to shut you out. I just can't…" he clenches his fists, seeming to struggle with his emotions as a flurry of colors blazes into light around him. "I don't want to…"

"Relive those memories?" I offer quietly, seeing his eyes meet mine in silent agreement. I reach up to stroke his cheek. "That's totally fine. We all need time to heal alone. Some of us need longer than others."

Loki nods, casting his eyes down to look at the bed. After a few silent moments, filled only with the sound of our breathing, he speaks up. "Stark said some interesting things about you today."

I roll my eyes. "Great. What exactly did he say?"

"He asked me how I liked working with you. He said that many people who worked with you, Stark included, thought you entirely lacked emotions, despite your ability to correctly interpret others'. He asked if I had managed to crack your icy exterior, and whether I had found anything inside you. He called you an ice queen and said you were incapable of feeling anything."

I prop my head on my hand and look at Loki. "Yeah, 'Ice Queen' is his little nickname for me. Whatever, he's just an ass who just takes it out on others to avoid his own problems."

Loki leans in towards me, bending his head towards my ear as if to tell me a secret. "I told him that you most certainly possess emotions, and that you've not made entirely of ice. How could you be made of frost and ice when you contrast so nicely with me? You have a burning core at your center, don't you, Callie? I can awaken it."

Loki drops his head just a few inches down to my neck and kisses my throat, just under my jaw. In response to his kiss, my heart starts beating rapidly. I feel his smile against my skin as he registers the change, moving down lower to lay kisses on my collarbone. My arms snake up to wrap around his neck, pulling his lips to mine.

I am content to stay with this simple, innocent kiss for some minutes, just taking in the taste of his lips and the smell of his skin, so close to mine. I kiss him until I stop to break for air, coming right back to him after I am satisfied. This time his tongue glides against my lips, gently parting them so that our tongues can connect and twine together. Loki's hand grips my waist, pulling our lower bodies together.

Loki breaks the kiss, laying a gentle kiss on my nose before carefully nipping at the end of it. I gasp in response and Loki chuckles. "You feel that, don't you? The heat collecting in your stomach? You most certainly are no ice queen, Callie. You are full of fire and passion. The fools who can't see that are not deserving of your passion. Fortunately I am no fool."

Loki flips me onto my back and kneels above me, his legs on either side of my hips. His lips trail down my throat, stopping to rest on the skin just above my heart as his fingers play restlessly with my shirt. "I can feel your heart race as I touch you. I can see your skin flush as I kiss you."

One of Loki's hands, resting on my side, moves up to cup my breast through the fabric of my shirt. He gently runs his finger against the sensitive underside as he kisses my collarbone once again. "I can hear the hitch in your breath as you respond to me. I can see your pupils dilate as you become overwhelmed with your arousal."

Loki's fingers snake under my shirt, pushing the hem up until my stomach is exposed. He moves his head further down my body, laying light kisses on the bare skin of my stomach. His tongue dances out to dip into my bellybutton, causing me to close my eyes and groan in response.

"The question is here, how hot can you burn before you explode?" Loki says. "How much can you take before you beg for me to help you cool down?"

Loki grins mischievously at me as he takes the end of my shirt in his teeth, pulling it still further up my body. Once my breasts are exposed he lets go and both hands and lips move to touch the newly exposed skin.

Unfortunately (or possibly fortunately, for me), we do not get the chance to see how much I can bear. My bedroom door swings open without warning, startling Loki into jumping off of me as I hastily pull my shirt down so that I am not exposed to our unwanted visitor.

When I finish pulling my shirt down, Loki captures my wrist in his hand possessively. He growls, deep in his throat. "What business have you here, Stark?"

I look over to see Stark standing in the doorway, his mouth open in shock. When he catches me looking at him he closes it and grins. "I just came to say that Banner and I are heading to the library again early tomorrow morning, and you need to come with us, Loki. Although perhaps we shouldn't separate you two?" He winks at me.

I blush and turn my face so that it is hidden in the pillow. I hear Loki say, "I will join you. Now can we have privacy?"

Stark chuckles. "I'm afraid not. It's time to break it up, children. Early day tomorrow, so time for bed. For sleep."

Stark stands in the doorway until Loki gets off the bed, making sure that Loki will actually leave me. As Loki passes Stark on his way out I see him lean in towards Stark and say, "She is no ice queen, had you eyes enough to see it."


	18. The Destroyer of Worlds

Author's note: Oh god, I realized I forgot Steve. My apologies to anybody who loves Cap and was distraught by his absence… although nobody mentioned it to me, which I think is almost funnier than me forgetting him in the first place. I promise to include him from now on.

Also, you probably noticed that I changed the title and the description a bit. My purpose for this is two-fold. One, "Seeing Blue" was always just a working title; I never really intended on keeping it the title forever, but just needed something at the time. Two, this story is going to be considerably longer than I anticipated. There are three major parts to it, which I had planned on splitting into three different stories. However, when I thought about it more I thought it might make more sense to just combine all three parts into one giant fanfic, as there are things I introduce or allude to in this first part that won't become important or won't be fully explained until the second or third parts. I think it will just help with continuity and fluidity to keep everything in one place, and plus then people won't be upset by plot lines that seem to go nowhere. Anyways, when I decided to combine all three parts I decided I needed a title that would be more fitting to the overall theme of the story, so there you have it.

* * *

I awake slowly, gradually becoming aware of the large, cool hands lazily wandering up and down my bare stomach. I keep my eyes closed as I enjoy the sensations of fingers tracing delicate patterns against my skin, igniting flashes of warmth in my stomach. I take in my surroundings, noting that I am lying shirtless on my side in bed with a warm, comforting presence nestling just behind my back.

One hand travels down to rest on my hip as the presence snuggles closer, leaving a trail of kisses down my neck and onto my shoulder. The hand rests there for a brief moment before moving even lower. It settles on the waistband of my pajama pants, toying with fraying strands, before the long fingers sneak underneath my pants. They play with the lace lining the top of my underwear restlessly. "Shall I venture lower?" I hear Loki murmur into my ear, his breath hot on my face.

Consumed by the need to feel my lips on my own, I turn around in his arms to face him. When I catch sight of his face the smile vanishes off my face and I freeze, realizing I'm not in bed with my lover but with my worst fear.

As the adrenaline courses through my system I regain control of my limbs. I attempt to squirm backwards away from him but his arms clench tight around me, trapping me firmly against his body. "This isn't possible," I croak out. "You can't be here."

Horror fully consumes me as he says, "I'm always here with you. You can never escape me, Caroline."

I open my mouth to scream but only silence greets me. He smiles maliciously as a single finger presses up against my lips. "Hush."

* * *

Thankfully I am saved from having to endure more of the nightmare by the shrill ring of my alarm clock. The dream felt so real that I glance to the other side of my bed to assure that I'm alone, seeing nothing there but mussed bed sheets. I then roll over on unsteady arms to silence my alarm clock. I notice as I do so that my pajamas are clinging to my skin with sweat.

I sit up with my feet dangling over the edge of the bed, rubbing my eyes as I will the images to leave my head. Once I feel confident that there is nothing here I can be scared of, I shower, dress, then head downstairs to eat breakfast.

The Avengers are all already present when I arrive, sitting at their own table on the far side of the room. I grab food and then head over to sit by them, noting that Loki has left me an open seat next to him.

I slide into my seat and mutter a greeting to everybody before tucking into my food. When I look up from inhaling food, I notice that a few of the Avengers quickly avert eye contact, having clearly been staring at me just moments before.

"What are you all looking at?" I snarl, still in a bad mood from my nightmare. They all avoid eye contact with me except for Stark, who smirks.

"What's your problem? I feel like you're just waiting for me to fall into a trap or something."

Stark gleefully replies, "No need for us to wait; you've already walked straight into it."

I slam my spoon down at the table and glare at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

"You've already forgotten your little tryst with Loki last night? Must not have been very good, then."

"Oh, for Christ's sake," I say, exasperated. I roll my eyes and menacingly point my finger at Stark. "You listen here, Stark. I don't want to hear another word from you about this situation. It's none of your damn business." When I see him start to open his mouth, most likely in protest, I continue. "I know how to make your life miserable; you know I do. Don't mess with me anymore."

Stark appears to consider my statement for a minute before he shrugs and turns back to his food. The rest of the Avengers don't chip in, probably wanting to avoid the drama. We finish our meal in silence and then split into our respective investigative teams. Banner, Stark, and Loki disappear into a rental car to head to the library, while I pile with Thor into the backseat of a beat-up pickup truck that the Norwegians are driving to the dig site. Romanov and Barton follow behind us in another car.

When we reach the dig site I automatically head to the overlook platform, having been delegated there the day before. Lars made it clear that I was not to go anywhere near the workers or the active dig site; he told me that if I had to be there, I would patrol the boundaries or stay on the platform. I sigh as I lean my forearms against the railing and look down over the site as the Norwegians start their business for the day. Romanov and Barton weave among them, asking a few questions here and there and checking on anything that seems strange. I long to be with them, as it would give me something more to do than just standing up here and twiddling my thumbs.

I feel the characteristic sense of Thor's emotions approach from behind me and seconds later, he joins me at the railing. He mirrors my stance in comfortably leaning on the railing and observes the fluster of activity below as I do.

After a few minutes he speaks up. "As you likely guessed, Stark told us what he saw the night before between you and Loki."

I give a curt nod as I feel the muscles in my jaw clench. Leave it to Stark to share personal, private information with everybody else.

"I had my suspicions that something might be happening between you two, even before Stark mentioned this incident. I saw the way Loki reacted when I arrived at the café yesterday. He must care for you deeply, you know, to protect you so completely in the face of danger. Especially because he stopped you from engaging in the battle, even though you are well able to take care of yourself."

I nod again, unsure of how to respond. I see Thor turn to look at me, carefully examining my face as a number of emotions tumble around him.

"You are good for Loki. He needs somebody to heal him after his past experiences; he needs somebody who he can trust. I can see that you will do that for him, and I thank you for that."

Thor pats me gently on the back, happiness dominating the emotions pouring from him. "I do care for him, you know," he says softly, confirming what I already thought. "Even though he is not related to me by blood, I still consider him my brother. All I want is for him to be happy again, like he was back when he was younger. I want to see the old Loki that I used to know so well; the Loki who would play pranks on me with a mischievous grin or who would accompany me riding or training. I know that you can bring him back and help him rediscover himself.

"Just please be careful with him. Do not break his trust, for you will not have another opportunity to prove yourself to him. And I fear that if he loses his trust in you, he could not stand the pain of being broken again." He squeezes my shoulder carefully, his humongous hand dwarfing my small features, before turning and walking towards the dig site to join the other Avengers.

I mull over Thor's words throughout the rest of the morning, having nothing else to do. I patrol the boundaries of the dig site, pacing back and forth, but I find nothing interesting or worth investigating further. I can tell the others are having no luck below based on the dull emotions they're giving off.

I had packed a lunch before leaving the hotel, so when I become hungry I pull it out and head over to the edge of the forest to eat by myself. When I finish I brush the crumbs off my shirt and stand up, frowning as I hear the sound of approaching footsteps and heavy panting.

Anders appears over the edge of the rise, looking pale and sick. He halts a few feet away from me as he clutches his chest and gasp for air. The colors around him are swirling furiously and indicate that he's confused, uncertain, and a little frightened.

I step towards Anders and grab his shoulder to get his attention. "Anders? What's wrong?"

He looks up at me and I see his eyes are wide and fearful. "I need to speak to you alone, Callie. Please. It's an emergency."

"Of course. Go ahead."

He shakes his head emphatically. "No, not here. There are too many people around." His eyes shift around nervously, landing on the dig site spread out below us. "In the forest would be a better place."

I try to ignore the niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach that something is very, very wrong, and instead follow Anders into the forest. I have to support him as he seems unbalanced and trips over rocks and branches lining the forest floor. We walk until we find a small pond, which Anders walks directly up to, peering intently into the water.

He pants for a few minutes as if the short walk had exhausted him. I notice his shoulders tremble and shake before they still again. When he catches his breath he turns to me and speaks up.

"You have done well so far, mortal, in healing the ones we have touched."

Anders' normally smooth mid-range voice is overlaid by a deep, gravelly male voice. His emotions are similarly hidden behind a thin sheet that is not his own; these foreign emotions project revenge and fury that writhe anxiously around Anders' body, wrapping tendrils around his limbs as if staking their claim on his body. Behind this barrier, I can sense that Anders is in a deep state of panic.

"Release him," I say, putting strength behind my words in hopes that this foreign entity will obey me.

The being chuckles darkly. "Not until I have finished my business here. Shall we first start with introductions, though? I know you are Caroline Calais O'Connell, but do you know who I am?"

"You're obviously one of the twins, though if you possess a name I don't know it."

"I am called Jokull, the Destroyer of Worlds," he bows to me, almost mockingly.

"You said you had business here. State it and be done with Anders," I say coldly.

One of Anders' eyebrows raises, almost as if in amusement at my words. "I'm afraid merely stating my business will not rid Anders of me. You see, he is linked to both my sister and I. Any and all of his blood are, as it was his ancestor who betrayed us all those lifetimes ago. We vowed then that we would see his children suffer for his deeds. We initially had planned to simply kill this Anders in revenge, but we came to realize that it would be more beneficial for us to keep him alive and corrupt his mind. For as long as he lives, we can use him when we need a physical contact with your world."

"You will leave him alone," I say threateningly.

"Oh, I think not. He is simply too good of a vessel to pass up. But we waste too much time chatting. I am here with a kind warning for you. If you leave now and cease your interference in our plans, you will come to no harm. We would rather not waste such talent willingly, but we will if you continue to impede us."

"Never. I won't leave until these people are safe and you are banished far from here."

A chill runs through my bones as he laughs harshly. "You do not need to bother with the second part, as it is already done. But I will ask you again one more time—leave. You have impressed us so far with the remarkable range and strength of your powers, but soon we will easily overpower you. I fear then that even you will be unable to save these precious beings that you so care for. You will become useless, at which point you will either fall prey to our plan, or to Loki's."

"What do you mean about Loki's plan?" I ask, starting to become suspicious.

Anders walks up to me until he is standing mere inches away. He looks into my eyes, as if to emphasize his point, as he says, "His plan to corrupt you and use you for his own purposes. His plan to set you on those who ruined his life, those who broke him, so that he can get revenge. And when he's done with you he plans to just throw you away."

He must see the surprise in his eyes for he says, "You hadn't actually thought he cared for you? That he would condescend to caring for such a weak being as yourself? No, the trickster god Loki is an opportunist. If he sees any opportunity to further his position he will take it, no matter the cost. And in you he sees one of the most brilliant opportunities of all for revenge. At the very least, if you do not leave here, you should free yourself of him before he starts to destroy you."

"You lie," I hiss.

"Do I? I know you can read my emotions. Am I truly lying to you?"

I do not answer him, seeing that there is only truth behind his convoluted, dark emotions. I brush the idea away quickly, thinking that he must be shielding the lie from me somehow.

Jokull must see the stubbornness in my expression. "Ask him about it sometime if you refuse to believe me. But I digress, for you never answered me. Will you leave willingly, or must I waste that beautiful talent of yours?"

"I'm not going anywhere; you'll be the one to leave first. You speak of my power but I don't think you understand just what I can do with it. Do you want to see just what I am capable of?"

Jokull cackles gleefully. "Oh how I do love a good scuffle. I'm quite interested to see how you intend to fight me, as the cards are stacked against you. You wouldn't want to hurt your friend now, would you?" Still standing close to me, he runs his hands up my stomach and over my breasts until they reach my neck. They wrap around it and he squeezes gently, though I can sense the threat behind the gesture.

"What are you going to do, Miss Caroline?" he asks, tilting his head to the side as if genuinely curious.

My nails dig into my palms as I resist the urge to physically attack him. He has a fair point—I don't want to hurt him, as the physical form is Anders' and not his.

Instead I close my eyes and summon up every emotion I can think of, both positive and negative. I picture families walking down the street, children clutching their parents' hands as the parents become overwhelmed with love for their children; I feel intense rage when I think of all the lives that have already been wasted at the hands of these two; I feel pain as Loki crosses my mind and I have to question whether he has been using me all this time. I think of all these images and more; I picture situations both real and imagined. Once I have collected enough, I grab Anders' face in my hands and force all these emotions onto him. I hope that if I overload him with emotions and short-circuit his brain, Jokull will be evicted in the process.

A high-pitched scream breaks my concentration and my eyes fly open just in time to see Anders' face go blank. His eyes roll back into his head as his body quakes and he starts to collapse. I swiftly wrap my arms around his torso, helping to lower him to the ground.

I anxiously watch him for a few minutes as he lies there unconscious. I do not try to move him, fearing that I may have damaged him in trying to remove Jokull. When he does finally open his eyes, blinking in confusion, he sees me sitting there beside him. He starts to sob.

I brush the hair back from his sweaty forehead, saying, "Everything will be okay. I will fix it."

We don't move until Anders has regained control again, both physical and emotional. I support his body as he stands, his balance still shaky, and continue to let him use me as a crutch as we walk back through the forest to the dig site. As we walk past the last stretch of the pond I notice a faint reflection of a silhouette in the water. It disappears before I have time to better look at it.

* * *

Stark had called an Avengers meeting after dinner, saying that he had important information to share. I said I had something to add to the discussion, as well.

When I enter the living room I find that the Avengers have already arranged the furniture into a circle, adding stiff kitchen chairs in amidst the chairs and couches. Only one seat is left open, next to Loki, clearly meant for me.

I hesitate, for though I had time during the day to think over what Jokull told me, I am still unsure of how I feel about Loki. I decide to stay on the safe side and motion to Romanov to scoot over on the couch, making just enough room for me to sit down next to her. When I look around the room I see Steve Rogers sitting on a chair next to Banner. He had just come in earlier that day, having had business to attend to in the United States, and I had yet to see him. I wave at him and he smiles back at me.

"Now that we are all present, you said you had news to share, Man of Iron?" Thor begins.

Stark nods. "We found information about that enigmatic sphere Callie and Loki described in an old book in the library. The book called it the Sempitaran and also declared it one of the most powerful, and dangerous, tools in the entire universe. It said that its power is essentially unlimited and can be manipulated for a variety of uses, depending on the user's wishes and talents."

"So what you're saying it that it can basically do anything?" Rogers asks.

"Yes, which means it could easily be used to manipulate the team member's emotions or completely control their minds, as I earlier suggested. It is possible that the Sempitaran could be projecting emotions onto the team members, much like Callie is able to do," Loki says. Loki looks directly at me, his eyes boring into my own. I can tell that he is wondering why I didn't sit next to him. I blush and avert my eyes, choosing to look at my feet instead.

Natasha speaks up. "How do we stop it then?"

"The books did not say anything about how the object is controlled or how it could be destroyed. As Loki has never heard of this artifact before and does not know how to eliminate it, he suggested that Thor ask Odin."

Thor nods. "I will carry this news to Odin as well. But it is strange, as I also have not heard of this Sempitaran before."

"Shouldn't you gods be aware of the most powerful artifacts in the universe?" I ask.

"Yes, we should. That is why it is concerning," Loki says quietly. "For Thor and I to not know of this, it means there is something else behind all this."

"Agent O'Connell had to deal with an interesting situation today," Barton says, breaking the quiet. "I think you should share it with the rest of us."

I nod and continue to tell everybody what had happened earlier in the day with Anders and Jokull.

When I finish Banner turns towards me. "Is Anders doing okay now? There's no more sign of this possession, or whatever it was?"

"He's doing fine. I brought him back to the hotel immediately after the incident and he's just been sleeping since then. He's seemed a little strained in the brief moments he's been awake, but it didn't strike me as concerning, given what he went through today."

Thor frowns. "I am glad to hear that Anders is recovering, but it seems like this situation is becoming even worse than I feared. If they are able to take over a human's mind to bring themselves into this realm, in a form that essentially cannot be damaged…"

"The human vessels can be killed, if necessary," Loki says coldly as all eyes turn to him. "If it will prevent these beings from taking over the entire universe and wiping out every race in existence, it will be necessary."

I frown as I feel the hostility pouring off of Loki. What's wrong with him?

Loki's comment starts an extended argument about the protection of human lives versus the safety of the entire universe. Eventually I cut everybody off, sick of hearing all the bickering.

Thor speaks up then, his mouth twisting thoughtfully. "I will return to Asgard tomorrow. Odin must learn of this news immediately and if possible, I will bring more assistance. The rest of you should continue with your investigations as you have been."

With that, our meeting is adjourned. Stark, Banner, Rogers, and Barton stay on the couch and flip the TV on, talking about finding something interesting to watch. Romanov leans down to whisper something in Barton's ear before going outside, presumably heading back to the hotel. Thor leaves with her, saying he must prepare for his journey.

I step off the couch and walk towards the entrance without looking at Loki, not wanting to talk with him just then. However, he intercepts me as I pull my tennis shoes on my feet, grabbing hold of my arm.

I roughly pull my arm out of his hand. Surprise flashes in the cloud of emotions surrounding him although his face remains blank.

"What has happened?"

"I just need to be alone," I say, practically running out of the door. I feel a small amount of shame for fleeing so immaturely, but that feeling quickly passes as I make my way out to the fjord. For once the sun is shining and the weather is warm, so I take a seat on the bank and gaze out over the water as I think about Loki, trying to decide if what Jokull told me could possibly be true.

I start with the basics. Loki has never acted unkindly to me, despite what others have said of his cruelty and coldness. I almost start to put this point in his favor, but stop when I realize that this could have been a ploy to gain my trust. But still… I chew my lip. I hesitate even more when I begin to consider that he initiated a romantic relationship with me simply to gain my love and acceptance. I would certainly be easier to control if I was in love with him and would do anything for him.

I am also bothered by Loki's magic. He is constantly surprising me with the things he is able to do using magic; would it be such a stretch of the imagination to think that his magic is able to hide certain emotions from me?

I start as I feel somebody approach me, my body stiffening and turning towards the person. I see Loki walking slowly towards me, his eyes fixed on the path in front of him.

He takes a seat near me, though not close enough to touch me, as if he can sense that I don't want him too close. He stretches his legs out comfortably in front of him and clasps his hands in his lap.

"What did Jokull tell you, besides what you relayed to the Avengers?"

I suck in a breath sharply before looking to the side opposite Loki, removing him from my vision. I close my eyes, knowing that I cannot escape from this moment forever, no matter how much I dread it. "He mentioned that you had a plan for me. That you would use my abilities to take revenge on those who abused you, and then afterwards throw me away like garbage."

"And you believed him, because you could see he was not lying."

I nod stiffly, still avoiding eye contact with him.

"He was right. I was planning on using you, once I saw just how talented you were. I thought you, with your emotional abilities, would be the perfect poison for my enemies who ruined my mind, for the ones who tortured me." His voice is cold and even, with no trace of remorse or regret in it.

I turn on Loki then, anger bubbling within me. "You are the most abhorrent creature I have ever met. How could you bear to use me and bend me to your will when you believe that your family did the very same to you? How did you feel when you found out, Loki?"

"I saw an opportunity for revenge and I took it. Would you not do the same if you could avenge the despicable wrongs that were done to you by your father?"

"No, I wouldn't!" I exclaim. "You're just continuing the circle of hate and pain by constantly seeking revenge. You're only making things worse. How can you possibly expect to heal when this is the only thing you thing of?"

I hastily stand and march off, needing to get away from Loki as tears blur my eyes. As I try to walk past him, however, he reaches out and grabs my wrist, yanking me down to my knees directly in front of me.

"Callie, whatever my intentions may have been when I first met you, they are not the same now. Knowing who you are, and seeing that you have been broken in the same ways that I have, I know I could never force you to do anything as I seek revenge. I have too much respect for you to do so."

"I don't trust you," I say, struggling to free my wrist from his iron grip.

"Then read my emotions," he growls, shoving his face close to mine. What I see in his face scares me; I have never seen him display such barely restrained anger before. He looks like he could snap at any moment, and I have to remind myself I'm dealing with a god here. He could easily kill me without exerting any effort at all.

I look at his emotions and can see no hint of a lie in his words, but I question the accuracy of my abilities. "If you were faking your emotions before, back when you were just trying to win me over to use me, why couldn't I tell? Are you hiding things from me, or is there something you didn't teach me? Why couldn't I tell that you were lying to me?"

"Because you see emotions, not intent," he says, harshly pulling me back down to my knees as I struggle to stand up and get away. "Whatever feelings you saw at the time were true and not contrived. You could just not see what I intended to do with you later."

I struggle against him, wanting to be free. "Callie," he says, shaking me. "Listen to me. Look at me. I will not attempt to use you for my own purposes, do you understand? I am not attempting to trap you or corrupt you. Whatever I once planned to do to you is in the past and gone."

"You think it's that I simple?" I gasp. "That you can just wave it aside and ignore it? What's to stop you from changing your mind?"

"Because you have changed me, Callie. I would never hurt you because I care for you too much. You must believe me." His eyes plead with me, the anger seemingly burned off, but my internal struggle still rages on.

"Let me go," I whisper and he releases my wrist. I scramble to my feet and back away from him, keeping my eyes fixed on him in case he should try something.

"Where are you going?" he calls out as I start walking away from him, back towards the hotel.

"I need time alone to think about this," I mumble, knowing that he can still hear me.

"You will come back to me eventually. You cannot live without me now any more than I can live without you."


	19. The Offer

Author's note: Okay, I'll be honest-I struggled with writing Callie's reconciliation with Loki and making it sound rational. If it doesn't seem very convincing to you or whatnot please let me know and I'll do my best to make it better. Thanks!

* * *

I don't sleep well that night. I toss and turn for hours on end, thoughts of Loki filling my mind. When I do finally fall asleep, I dream of Jokull. He smiles maliciously at me, saying he will come for me, before grabbing my arm and pulling me deep into the forest.

Luckily I don't need to wait for my alarm to pull me out of the dream, as an uncomfortable churning in my stomach wakes me up. I lie there for a few seconds as I gauge how bad the pain is. Just when I decide that it will pass, my stomach does a massive flip-flop. I tumble out of bed and dash towards the bathroom, falling to my knees in front of the toilet just in time as I suddenly and violently become ill.

I feel a soft touch on the back of my neck and become aware of the gentle hands there. They hold my hair back from my face as I finish, spitting up the last of the vomit. I hadn't noticed the quiet step of his feet earlier, having been too preoccupied with vomiting.

I shuffle back away from the toilet and towards the bathtub, leaning my cheek against the cool porcelain. "I feel fucking awful," I mutter, grimacing in reaction to the taste of vomit in my mouth.

Loki kneels before me, opening my eyelids to look at my eyes, carefully examining them for any symptoms of illness. "Was it something you ate?" He rests a hand against my forehead. "You don't feel hot."

I push Loki out of my way as another wave of nausea hits me. My body racks with the contractions and I gasp for breath. When I seem to have emptied my stomach I lie down on the floor, trying to calm my shaking muscles. Loki sits down next to me and gently lifts my head up, placing it in his lap so that I am more comfortable. I don't protest or object to his touch or nearness to me, feeling too horrible to think of anything other than my swimming stomach at this point. Today at let, I will let him comfort me, at least until I can think rationally again.

"I don't feel sick in the traditional sense. I mean, yes I'm throwing up, but I don't feel sick because of something I ate or because I have an illness. I just feel like I'm being crushed, like there's this immense pressure on my chest. And oh, my head is killing me. The colors are too intense."

Loki's hands smooth stray strands of hair off my face. Even after they have all been collected back, he continues to touch my face reassuringly. "The emotions are stronger than normal?"

"Yes, but I don't feel or see them coming off of people in the hotel. I can't tell where they're originating from, but it's overwhelming. I feel everything at once—intense sorrow, pain, ecstasy, excitement, love, and so many more." I shudder as my stomach turns. "I'm probably puking because my body doesn't know what to do with itself. I also just have this terrible sense of foreboding, like something bad is going to happen. I don't know what, though."

"You said that you cleared Jokull from Anders' mind by projecting emotions onto him, right?" I nod in response. "It's possible that he learned from this action and is now using it on you. I wonder if this is a sign that they'll be attacking today."

Loki wraps an arm under my knees and another behind my back, carefully scooping me off the floor. He carries me to my bed and gently places me down. He pulls the covers up and hesitates for a brief moment while staring at my face. I can sense the uncertainty coming off him. Finally deciding that he won't be overstepping his boundaries, he leans in and lays a kiss on my forehead.

"I must go inform the others so that we can prepare as appropriate. Stay here and rest."

I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep, but just before Loki leaves the room, something occurs to me. "Loki, Thor is supposed to leave today, isn't he?"

"Yes."

"If he hasn't already left, make sure he doesn't. I just don't feel right about this; I wouldn't trust that his form of transportation hasn't been touched by whatever is going on."

"I will relay the message."

Then I am alone in the room once again. I shift uncomfortably in my sheets as I stare out the window, trying to ease my racing mind. The nagging feeling that screams something is wrong keeps me awake. Eventually I come to the conclusion that I won't sleep until I figure out what is causing this flood of emotions and sense of wrongness, so I pull a sweatshirt over my pajamas and head downstairs to check things out.

I have to walk slowly as my stomach threatens to rebel again and occasionally I have to stop and take deep breaths to try and ease the force of the emotions on me. After what seems like an eternity, I shuffle my way down to the first floor. I carefully avoid the living room where I can hear the Avengers talking, knowing that Loki will send me back to bed if he sees me up. Instead I enter the kitchen where the Norwegians are eating their breakfast before leaving for the day.

I stand off to the side of the entrance as I plan to scan everybody's emotions, looking for anything unusual. I know I'll have to be fast, as these added emotions might cause me to be sick again. I take a deep breath and focus myself before starting with Inga, thinking her past might make her a more vulnerable target. I see that her thoughts are happy and content so I continue to gaze around the room. The bright colors do not end with Inga; in fact, all of the Norwegians seem to be feeling cheerful and content. Whatever is wrong, it isn't with them.

Just as I turn to leave the room I catch a flash of blinding yellow, the sign of panic. I turn to find the source is Anders. He crouches in the corner, arms wrapped protectively around himself.

I make my way over to Anders as fast as I possibly can and help him to stand before supporting him down the hallway to his room. As I do so I send him calm, rolling waves of happiness and relaxation to try and control his fear. I have him lie down in his bed before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Don't feel well," he mumbles before leaning out over the side of his bed and retching on the floor. I run to the kitchen and grab a bowl, thrusting it into Anders' hands so that he won't sully the floor further.

"Are you alone in your mind?" I ask, even knowing the answer before I ask it. Anders 'emotions are his own; there are no overlays that would signal another presence.

He nods. "I just feel sick."

So that makes two of us, then. I rock back on my heels, knowing there is not much I can do to help him. "You should stay back in the hotel today and get better. I'll stick around to keep an eye on you."

He nods and closes his eyes so I turn and start walking out of his room. Just before the door I hear him say, "Thanks, Callie."

I walk into the living room, interrupting the meeting between the Avengers. I am glad to see that Thor is still here, which means Loki caught him in time. Loki stands up abruptly when he sees me, his muscles tensing as if he wants to rush towards me.

"Anders is sick," I say, "and I'm not feeling too great either. I'm going to stay behind today to watch over him."

"No, you're going to stay here today to rest and heal," Loki says, a sharp edge in his voice.

Before I have time to argue, Banner speaks up. "I can stay here to monitor Anders' health, as well as yours, Callie. Loki is right; you need to stay in bed if you aren't feeling well. Otherwise it will only get worse."

"I'll remain here as well to keep an eye on Callie," Loki says.

"I don't think giving head is going to help her feel better," Stark mutters under his breath.

Loki whips around to face Stark as I see red anger flash out from him. "Mind your tongue, Stark. Or else I will take care of it for you."

"Okay everybody, enough," I say, swaying slightly on my feet. "I'm going back to bed now before I pass out. Or throw up. Stark and Thor, you guys might want to head out to the dig site with the other Avengers today. I can just tell that something isn't right, and if this feeling is indicative of an upcoming attack, they'll need your help if it occurs at the dig site."

My head reels as it explodes with the light of a new wave of powerful emotions. I stumble, grabbing onto the back of the couch for balance. Through my hazy vision I can see Loki rush to my side. He wraps an arm around my side and supports me up the stairs, once again helping me into bed.

"You will stay here this time," he says, his tone booking no argument. "I will watch over you, and Banner will let us know if anything changes with Anders. Now sleep."

He lays a cool hand on my forehead and I instantly fall asleep.

* * *

I wake later when I feel an intense pressure on my chest, almost as if somebody was pressing down with all their might. I roll onto my side and gasp as the pressure restricts my breathing. Black dots swarm in front of my eyes due to the lack of oxygen, and I pray that the pressure will be alleviated soon so that I don't blackout. Through my blurred vision I look up to see that the chair sitting next to my bed is unoccupied, meaning Loki has left.

I lay there in pain for a few minutes before the pressure suddenly dissipates, allowing me to breathe normally. I collapse back onto my pillows and draw in deep breaths until I feel better. Thankfully, the nausea that earlier bothered me seems to have gone. Automatically I close my eyes and search the area around me for emotions; when I feel waves of terror coming from Anders' room, I jump out of bed and run downstairs into his room.

Anders is also alone in his room, with no sign of either Banner or Loki nearby. He is resting on his side, facing the wall. His blankets are loosely covering his thin form and I can see them gently rise and fall with every breath. I cannot see any source of danger but still, the intensity of his fear worries me.

"Anders? Is everything okay?"

I take a cautious step towards Anders when he doesn't respond or roll over to face me. "Anders?" I call again.

"He is fine." I recognize the gravelly voice as Jokull's from our previous encounter the day before. As he speaks I notice faint emotional echoes of a different composition swirling around in Anders' own emotions. "We just need to send you another message."

"Then talk. And get out of his head before I force you again."

"Oh, I do not think you'll be accomplishing that again so easily. But we will willingly leave his mind, for now, so long as you meet us for a little chat."

"Where?"

"There is a mountain just near the hotel; you know it, as you have gone hiking on it before. We are waiting at the top for you. You will come alone, or we will kill your precious friend here."

Suddenly I can hear Anders gasp for breath, his hands clutching at his chest as panic blooms around him. I close the last of the distance between us and grasp his shoulder, turning him onto his back. His eyes have rolled back into his head and he quakes uncontrollably.

Just as suddenly as it started, the tremors fade and Anders returns to normal. "You best follow our directions, Callie, as you can see how easy it would be for us to kill him."

I nod in acceptance, even knowing that that I'm about to willingly walk into a dangerous situation. I have no other option if I want Anders to live. "I'll be there."

I don't bother changing out of my pajamas since I figure nobody is going to see me anyway. I just pull a waterproof coat on over my sweatshirt and stuff my feet into my tennis shoes. With my hand on the doorknob, I pause and carefully listen for any sign of Banner or Loki. When only the silence of an empty house greets me, I sneak out the door, gently closing it shut behind me. I trot into the forest as I glance nervously over my shoulder, just waiting for Loki to come out running after me. I don't feel safe from watching eyes until I am under cover of the trees.

I find the path up to the top of the mountain with ease, but unfortunately the trek up there is more difficult than I remember. The path is far more hazardous today due to heavy rains last night, turning the trail slick, and my still unsteady body. I slip and fall numerous times and stain my pants with mud beyond repair. Several times I have to sit down to clear my spinning head before getting up and continuing on.

It seems like I've run an entire marathon by the time I finally reach the top. In clearing the final crest, I have to pass between two large, irregularly shaped stones that serve almost as guards for the top of the mountain. When I step past them the entire top of the mountain is in my sight. The ground is empty except for a lone figure standing near the edge of the cliff. He is clearly a male figure, though not of the human variety. As I approach him, my shoes kicking small rocks that skitter around, he turns so that I get a clear look at him.

I can tell his skin is dark, though I cannot determine the exact color. It is marked with a series of runes that appear to be ingrained into his skin. His limbs are long and gangly, with his arms reaching down almost to the ground. His tall legs contribute to his towering height. I think even Loki, for all his height, would be dwarfed by this creature. His fingers and toes mimic his limbs and are likewise abnormally long and thin, with his fingers curling into what almost looks like claws. His eyes are placed far back into his skull and shine a deep, cold black.

As soon as his eyes light on me I feel cold, as if I have been plunged into icy water. My breath forms little clouds in front of my face with every exhale.

He smiles at me, which only increases my discomfort. His teeth are shaped into points and appear to be deeply stained.

"Welcome at last, Miss Caroline. I must say, it took you quite a bit longer than I expected to arrive here; are you feeling well? You seem to be looking a little peaky."

I ignore Jokull and brace myself, standing with my feet shoulder-width apart for extra stability.

"Not very talkative today, I see. Absolute shame. Anyways, I am glad you came as per our instructions, so we will allow your friend to live for now. With you here now, we can begin. As I mentioned earlier, we come with another message for you. This time, it is an offer.

"My sister and I were unaware of how strong your abilities are until you overloaded my mind with emotions. It was such a forceful blow that you managed to knock me straight back to her. Impressive for a mortal, really. It made us see just how unique your abilities are and how they could be of much use to us. We propose that you ally yourself with us, my sister and I, to help corrupt the minds of these puny humans. In return we will make you absolutely remarkable. You will command an entire race that will fall to their knees when they see you. They will do your every will and bidding. You will be all-powerful."

"I don't want to command my own people," I say, disgusted. "Is that truly the best offer you can come up with? If so you'll have to do better."

"How about we not kill your precious Anders when we take over the realms, then? Or what about Loki? Unless you two are having some problems now after our interesting conversation yesterday and you no longer care about him."

"You will leave both of them alone. If you want to kill them, you'll have to get through me first."

Jokull smiles at me again, a gesture which seems grotesque on such a face. "We can do that. Shall we begin now?"

Before I have time to process his question, he launches himself at me and pins me to the ground. Even though he looks fragile with his awkward limbs, I find that he is quite strong and can easily overpower me.

"Are you sure you will turn down such a good offer again? You will not get another chance, and I do fear you will come to regret these rash decisions of yours. You don't know what you're dealing with, Caroline. The whole plot is more complicated that you could begin to imagine. There is more involved than just my sister and I. The plot doesn't stop at taking over the universe but includes changing history so that we are given a more favorable outcome."

I spare him a rude answer and instead deliver a hard chop to the side of his neck with a knife hand strike. The blow stuns him and I use the moment to grab his hand, wrapping my other hand around the elbow of his same arm to lock his arm to my chest. I wrap my foot around his leg to further immobilize him, lift my hips up, and then turn him over, roughly slamming him into the ground, so that I am on top.

He snickers. "I must say, you're a feisty one. Maybe I won't kill you after all, but rather keep you as a pet. My sex life has been incredibly dull all these past centuries, and I am confident you could help to spice it up. Plus your face is quite enjoyable to look at. Tell me Callie, do you like being bound and submissive to your master?"

I clap my hand to his forehead and project all the fury I'm feeling onto him but he doesn't even flinch. He easily throws me off of him and I fly through the air, landing at the base of the guard stones a few yards away. The wind is knocked out of me with the impact but I can't quit fighting now.

I scramble to my feet as he approaches, scooping a large stone off the ground as I do so. When he gets close enough to me I dart towards him and smash the rock against his head hard enough to knock him unconscious.

In response he merely sighs, appearing completely unfazed, and punches me in the face. I cry out in pain as my head snaps back with the force and bounces off the stones behind me. Stunned, he uses the opportunity to grasp my neck in his thin hands. "Or maybe I won't keep you, because now you're angering me."

I quickly smash Jokull in the solar plexus and for good measure, use the heel of my palm to hit up under his nose. Both attacks, which again should have incapacitated him or at the very least pained him enough to release me, seem to just glance off him.

Jokull's grip on my neck tightens and he easily lifts me up off the ground, walking me back until my back hits against the guard stones. My feet scramble for purchase in the air while my hands claw at Jokull's, seeking release.

I sense I am quickly losing control of the situation so I rely on what I know best. I desperately try projecting emotions on Jokull like I did before, summoning up every single emotion I can imagine, but he doesn't react. "You're trying too hard," he says. "Just relax and soon this will all be over for you."

As Jokull conjures a knife into his hand, I realize I'm running out of options. I cannot physically defeat him, for he seems to be immune to my attacks. No longer can I emotionally attack him either, as he seems to have learned to protect himself in the short space of a day. I'm running out of cards to play, but I still have one left.

I don't like having to rely on somebody else, especially somebody who I'm not happy with, but it seems I have no other choice. I close my eyes and try to sense Loki, even as far away as he is. When I find the characteristic feel of his emotions and personality I thrust feelings of fear and desperation on him. It's a longshot, but I hope that he will pick up on these emotions and somehow be able to locate me in time.

I am interrupted by Jokull lightly running the blade down the skin of my neck. My eyes widen as he stops to rest just over my heart, digging the tip into my skin just enough to draw a small drop of blood.

"You fear knives so, don't you? Wouldn't it seem just to kill you with one, then?"

I put everything into fighting him off before he can stab the knife into my chest—I try gouging at his eyes, I dig my fingernails into my skin, I buck my body wildly against his, and I kick at his groin. No attack seems to be effective and I realize that unless I can think of something else, I will soon die.

Jokull's hands release me and I fall roughly to the ground as his face contorts in pain. He turns, no longer seeming interested in me, and crouches low to the ground as he stalks forward. Behind him, standing closer to the edge, I see Loki. A blue ball hovers in his hand as he watches Jokull without blinking.

Even though I know Loki is well-able to handle himself in this situation, I figure I should still help out. I roll over onto my side, still breathing heavily, and pick up the largest rocks I can find. I throw them all at Jokull, hoping at the very least to distract him, if not to injure him.

The ball flies from Loki's hand and hits Jokull as Loki easily throws it. Jokull hisses in pain and falls to the ground, retreating as fast as he can. Rocks explode behind Jokull as Loki continues to attack but Jokull does nothing in response. Suddenly he stops and turns towards me, saying, "You will soon be ours." A loud screech, like the whistle of a train, fills the airs. I cover my ears with my hands against the noise until with a sudden pop, the cacophonous noise ends and Jokull is gone.

Loki strides swiftly towards me, his face dark with anger. I can hardly bear to look at him because of the intense color of rage coming off of him. I have never seen him this angry before and it frightens me.

He crouches in front of me, taking my face in his hands and twisting it left and right. His voice is harsh with barely constrained anger. "You imbecile human. This was utter foolishness. What in the name of Odin were you thinking coming here alone? He very nearly killed you."

"I had to," I say, wincing as Loki gently touches the area where Jokull smashed me in the face. "He threatened to kill Anders if I didn't comply."

I let out a sharp cry of pain as Loki runs his finger across the entirety of my cheek. I'm sure it's already bruising and will probably look horrifying by tomorrow. He leans his face in towards mine and breathes onto my injured cheek. My cheek becomes colder and instantly I feel less pain.

Loki's fingers move to grasp my chin, holding me just a little too tightly for comfort. "You came here alone, knowing that you were probably going to die, to save Anders? You were going to sacrifice your life to spare his?" When I nod Loki's hands drop down to my shoulders and shake me gently. "Callie, if it comes between you and Anders, I would much rather have you survive than him."

"It doesn't work that way," I whisper softly.

Loki narrows his eyes at me but doesn't comment further. Instead, his eyes flicker up and down my body as he searches for any other injuries. His hands drop to my rib cage and carefully he feels for anything wrong. "Are you unhurt, other than your face?"

"I feel pretty beat up, but yeah, I think my face and head are the worst of it. I'll be fine. I've suffered worse."

I stand up quickly to prove my point but almost collapse as my head starts to swim. Loki's arms hook under my elbows and help keep me upright. "Okay, maybe I hit my head a bit harder than I thought." In response he removes one hand from my torso to feel my head, being extremely gentle as he does so.

"You have a large bump on the back of your skull," he says. "It would be best for you to rest when we get back. I am not very talented with healing magic, having focused most of my efforts on illusions and other such tricks, but maybe Banner can come up with something for you."

Suddenly Loki pulls me into an embrace. I rest my head against his chest, finally letting myself relax after the battle with Jokull.

"You asinine creature. I very nearly lost you then, when our relationship was still fractured and I had not yet a chance to prove myself to you. Of those who know you, nobody can doubt your bravery, but it concerns me when your bravery turns into outright foolishness. You must stop taking these risks and think more of yourself.

"Come now," he says as he picks me up in his arms. "You are exhausted. We should get back."

I fall asleep almost immediately, waking up briefly later when I feel Banner place a tingling substance on my cheek and head. When he finishes again, I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

"We didn't notice anything out of the ordinary at the dig site today," Hawkeye says later that night as we cluster around a table in the dining room. "Everybody appeared to be just fine."

"That's because all the action was happening here," I mutter, a bit grumpy after being awakened from a glorious nap. Though to be honest, the bruise on my face wasn't looking nearly as bad as I anticipated. When I questioned Banner what he had put on my face, he said that he, Stark, Thor, and Loki had all collaborated to come up with some elaborate concoction. Whatever it was, it was working great. I still became woozy if I moved too quickly and there was evidence of some bruising, but the concoction had clearly sped up the healing process.

"We had another visit from one of the twins," Loki says, clarifying my statement. "It was the same one as before, the one named Jokull. He managed to lure Callie away from the hotel to talk to her. Rather than possessing Anders this time, it was in its own natural state. A corporeal form."

"I don't like it," Stark says. "This all seems to be escalating very quickly. Yesterday it could only communicate through a human, and already today it can bring itself here. What do we expect to see tomorrow?"

"It's even worse than that," I say. "I think it learned from my emotional attack on it the day before and used the same technique on me today."

"Great. Now it can use Ice Queen's abilities against us all."

I see Loki bristle out of the corner of my eye and place a hand on his knee, stilling him. "It does make me wonder what else it will learn how to do," I say.

"The one thing that is in our favor is that when it is in its own natural form, we can attack it without harming the humans they might otherwise have taken over," Romanov says.

"Yeah, except for the fact that it seems almost impossible to hurt in that form. I used several of the self-defense techniques that have always been successful for me in the past, but they didn't even seem to faze him."

"We'll just have to up our game then," Stark says. "It's one thing if it couldn't be injured by human fists, but what chance will it have against our Hulk or my suit? I doubt it is immune to everything."

"Does anybody have more news?"

Rogers clears his throat. "Director Fury contacted me today to say that he will be arriving either tomorrow or the day after to assist with the situation. He might be bringing some additional agents, as well."

I nod, a bit glum. I hope Fury still doesn't remember the cave incident, or else I'm going to get another pounding.

Thor's question breaks me out of my pondering. "Do you think it safe for me to return to Asgard tomorrow, Callie?" I think about the question for a minute before nodding my approval. "I will depart then, and try to return as quickly as possible."

We talk of a few smaller items of business before breaking up. Just as we finish a number of Norwegians surge from the living room into the dining room, clearly dressed to go out.

"Hey," one of the Norwegians says to me. "A group of us are planning to go downtown tonight and visit the bars in celebration of our cabin trip tomorrow. There will be lots of good dancing and drinking involved."

Oh, shit. I completely forgot about the cabin trip.

"You guys are still going?" I ask.

"Of course. We are Norwegians, after all. The best cure for a little sadness is a good hike out into the wilderness."

The other Avengers fix me with questioning looks and I hurry to explain. "The Norwegians were planning on hiking some miles out into the forest and then staying overnight in a cabin there, as a little vacation from work. It seems to still be on."

Banner frowns. "Is that really a good idea, what with recent events?"

"It certainly has the potential to be dangerous," Loki says. "But at the same time, it could help them to relieve some stress and banish away any hints of unhappiness. As long as some of us accompany the Norwegians and others stay behind with the ones who do not go on the trip, I see no reason why the trip has to be cancelled."

"I'm not entirely convinced," Banner replies.

"Like Loki said, as long as nobody is alone, I think we should be able to handle anything that might arise. Besides, maybe getting away would help. I mean, doesn't it seem a bit suspicious to anybody else that the attacks originated here, at this specific location in Norway once the archaeological site was discovered? And not only that, but the attacks are still only happening at this location. I wonder if the beings are trying to hide something that's at the dig site. Eliminating the people working on it would certainly prevent any information about them from being discovered," Barton pitches in.

Stark gives Barton an appreciative nod. "He has a good point. I say we let the Norwegians continue with their little hiking excursion. Surely it can't be any worse than what's happening here."

The rest of the Avengers seem fine with letting the Norwegians go, although I can sense some skepticism and reluctance among a few of them. Because the vast majority of the Norwegians are going on the trip, Barton, Romanov, Loki, and I decide to accompany them, while Stark and Banner agree to remain behind.

The Norwegian smiles happily at me, glad that we granted he and his friends permission to continue with their trip. The knowledge that they would have us coming with them to serve as protection probably didn't hurt, either.

"So, the bars?" Stark asks the Norwegian, who nods emphatically. "I think that sounds like an even better idea for relaxation than a cabin trip. I'm certainly in." He claps the Norwegian on the shoulder. "The rest of my friends here will come as well."

"Callie will not," Loki interrupts. "She sustained some injuries today, as well as her sickness this morning, so it would be best for her to rest here."

I frown, not liking the way Loki is trying to take control of me. "I think I could handle a little bit. I'll know when to come back here."

Loki looks unhappily at me but I ignore him, following the Norwegians outside. They claim the way to downtown is a short walk from the hotel so we all just decide to walk instead of taking cars or buses.

The Norwegians' mood is infectious and I quickly find myself forgetting the disturbing events of the morning and immersing myself in the fun. Though I abstain from drinking, I do hit the dance floor with Romanov and Barton. After a few songs we are joined by a young Norwegian named Edvard who seems insistent on dancing with me.

I accept his company, enjoying his light mood and banter. I excuse myself after a few minutes to go get a drink of water, leaving him dancing up a storm on the dance floor.

The bar tender gives me a glass of water which I waste no time in gulping down, finding myself very thirsty. When I finish I see Thor making his way through the mass of people in order to reach me.

"Did something happen between you and Loki?" he asks when he reaches me. "You two have seemed differently as of late, almost strained."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, I just became aware of the fact that your brother can be a bit of a dick, can't he?"

Thor frowns and I see the color of confusion squirm uncomfortably in his emotions. "Loki can be a penis? I mean, he has a penis, but I don't know that he can entirely become one."

I almost choke on my laughter. "No no; you're misunderstanding me. I meant to say that he can be a jerk."

Thor sighs, leaning back against the bar and fully facing me. "Yes, it is true, Loki is not always the nicest person. He can be selfish and he takes what he wants, if it will help him, regardless of what happens to other people. Did he do that to you?"

"He was planning on using me to take revenge on the people who hurt him. I shouldn't be surprised, but it just startled me that I never saw this in his emotions. I'm just not sure if I can trust him now."

"I have known Loki his entire life, since Loki was a baby in the cradle. We grew up together, we trained together, we fought battles together. I daresay I am the person who understands Loki the best. I have a reasonable grasp on his reactions and emotions, although I cannot claim to be as accurate as you." He smiles kindly at me. "However, I can tell that he cares for you. He may have wanted to use you at one point, but I can none of that intention still remaining in Loki now. He looks at you too fondly to simply use you for something like that. Besides, have you not noticed the way he's been staring at you all night?" Thor motions towards where Loki is standing in the dark corner on the opposite side of the floor. "He has been sulking all night long. I thought he might explode of jealousy when you danced with that other man."

"You think I can trust him?"

"I think that there is nobody who will protect you as thoroughly as Loki will, now that you have won his trust. I do not think he would ever do anything to harm you, for you are too dear to him now."

I pat Thor on the arm. "Thanks, Thor. Have a safe journey back to Asgard tomorrow."

Thor kisses my hand and then walks away, presumably heading over to where Stark is doing shots to join in the fun.

I think over what Thor said as I spin the glass of water in my hands. I feel as if Thor is trustworthy, and I know there was no lie behind his emotions, so I feel like I can accept what he says about Loki's character and the way Loki feels about me. So maybe Loki was never really hiding his emotions from me in the first place.

I sigh and set my glass on the bar before heading back out onto the dance floor. My Norwegian friend immediately notices my reappearance and dances his way over to me, grabbing my hands and spinning me around in time to the song. I laugh lightheartedly, enjoying myself, only stopping when the song ends. I offer a smile at my friend but become confused when I see him freeze, fear written plainly on his face.

I turn around to see Loki menacingly standing there, glaring coldly at the Norwegian. He breaks his death glare to make eye contact with me. "May I have the next dance with you?"

I nod and turn around to thank my Norwegian friend, but he has already fled the scene. Loki formally holds his left hand out to me while placing his right hand against the small of my back and pulling me close. I rest my left hand on his shoulder and take his right hand into mine. Even though this formal style of dancing doesn't suit the music or the place, I decide to ignore it.

"I'm not forgiving you for what you were planning to do to me," I tell him, keeping eye contact with me.

"You would not be the person I thought if you did."

"And don't get me wrong; I'm still mad at you. You brought one of my biggest fears, that my past would repeat itself, to light again and gave it a hint of possible reality. That pisses me off, and you should understand why. You were going to make me helpless again and I swore to myself after my childhood that I would never let myself be helpless again. I told myself that I would never be the victim; that I would never let anybody deceive me or use me. That, in my eyes, is unacceptable."

"I understand."

"You've put me in an interesting situation now. I want to trust you—I need somebody on my side, who I can trust completely without doubt. But how can I trust you now? How can I tell that you won't turn on me again? And I know you promised, but honestly, promises are empty to me unless I can see the emotional truth under them. That's where you partially redeemed yourself. I could tell you weren't lying to me then and that you genuinely care for me. Of course, that's if you aren't disguising your emotions from me, which could entirely be possible given how little I know of your magic.

"But then I thought of your past actions and emotions. Actions are born of thoughts and feelings, so if you were hiding emotions from me I should have noticed discrepancies between your emotions and actions. I never saw any of that though. Besides, you protected me today at the risk of injury to yourself which does help prove that you care for me. So, I suppose I have to accept that what I was seeing was the truth. And as another point in your favor, the emotions I've sensed from both Thor and Jokull seemed in line with their actions and did not seem disguised or contrived.

"So for now, I'll accept what you said and put my trust in you. It isn't my full trust, mind you, but it's enough so that I will rely on you for help and assistance. Just know that if you ever do anything to hurt me or use me again, you'll never regain my trust. I rarely give second chances so you better consider yourself lucky and not abuse it."

"You still don't sound entirely convinced that you can trust me," Loki says, a small smirk on his face.

I take my hand out of his and wrap it up around his neck, pulling his head down to mine. I kiss him gently on his lips, standing on my tiptoes, before dropping back down to the ground. "Does that seem more convincing?"

Loki smiles and tries to pull me back up to his lips, but I neatly dance out of his arms. "Not so fast," I say playfully. "We have to do at least a little dancing first."

I nod my head towards the other people dancing on the floor and start mimicking their movements. I extend my hand to Loki to join me, but for a moment he just looks at me, almost in confusion. He tilts his head upward in what appears to be a snobby display.

"We do not call this dancing on Asgard. Our dancing is more… refined."

"That's probably so, but ours is more fun," I say to Loki as I grab his hands and pull him closer to me. I keep one of his hands in mine as I start to move my hips, encouraging Loki to do the same. When he seems comfortable with this, I drop his hand and instead wrap my arm loosely about his shoulders as I pull our bodies even closer together, until we're touching. I continue to gyrate my hips, bumping against Loki's occasionally. He smiles at me and bends his head in to mine to nuzzle the skin where my neck meets shoulder. I shudder in response.

I let Loki continue his fun until the next song, at which point I turn around so that I'm no longer facing him. I keep my arm hooked around his neck but with my free hand, move Loki's hands to grab my hips. I roll my hips back into Loki's, trying to hide the smile that forms on my lips when I sense his surprise and feel his hands grip me tighter. I continue to move my hips back and forth against his, feeling him pull me even closer against him to increase the pressure and friction between us. Loki's head drops to my ear and he sucks my earlobe inside his mouth, causing me to gasp.

His hands wander around to my stomach, sneaking under my shirt and rubbing my bare skin when he senses I will accept it. He utters a deep groan when I grind my butt against his crotch with as much force as I dare muster. He continues to hold my hips there against him, not letting me move away even a hair breadth's away.

Suddenly Loki spins me around in his arms and walks me backward to the nearby wall. He shoves me up against the wall as he presses himself against me and crushes his lips to my own. He quickly seeks entrance into my mouth as his hands wander back up my shirt to caress my stomach.

I grasp Loki's hips and jerk him against me, biting back a moan as the bulge in his pants pleasantly rubs up against me. He drops my lips to whisper in my ear. "Let's go back."

I nod in agreement and Loki takes my hand in his own as he guides me out of the crowded club and into the still-light night. He stops for a moment to push me up against the brick wall and kiss me impatiently again, before I push against him and breathlessly tell him to go on.

We seem to make it back to the hotel in record time and within a few brief moments, find ourselves upstairs in my bedroom, sans shoes and coats. Loki shuts the door behind us and looks at the keyhole for a moment until it emits a bright light.

"What was that?" I ask as he finds his way back to me, his arms comfortably settling around me.

"Insurance that we won't be interrupted again."

Loki pushes me back towards the bed and when my legs bump up against it, he scoops me up and deposits me in the middle of the bed. He kneels over me, his hips hovering just over mine, as he kisses me passionately until we both have to break for air.

When he brings his lips back he does not go to where I most want him to go, but instead carelessly wanders around my face. He lays a soft, gentle on my forehead and then one on each of my closed eyelids. He kisses my uninjured cheek and then just whispers a kiss against my injured cheek. He rubs his nose against mine before putting a small peck on the very tip.

"Are you sure about me?" he asks before moving down to my neck. He alternates between kissing me and nipping at the skin; not hard enough to break the skin or leave bruises, but enough so that I shiver and melt underneath him.

In response I release my arms that are currently wrapped around Loki's neck and let them fall down to Loki's hips. I tug on the waistband of his jeans for a moment before slipping up to the hem of his shirt, letting my fingers slip underneath and play against his skin. Loki lets out a growl and wraps one of his hands around my own, guiding my hand to grasp his shirt and pull it up over his head before tossing it on the floor.

Desperate to see his body and take my time exploring it, I hook one of my legs around his and roll us over so that it is me straddling him. Immediately he grasps my hips and tries to flip us over again.

I attempt to hold my position firmly but unfortunately Loki is considerably stronger than me. He rolls us over as I continue to fight against him and try to turn the opposite way. The previously graceful uniting of our body turns into a confused mess of limbs that constantly squirm to gain the upper hand.

"Stay there," Loki growls as he crouches over me.

"Not used to people disobeying your orders?" I say cheekily as I try to flip him around again. Loki senses my intent and tenses against me, leaning in the opposite direction to counteract my movements.

But something goes wrong this time in our struggle to gain the upper hand. Though I'm not sure exactly what goes so wrong, I think it's the combination of both of us struggling against the other. Anyways, regardless of the exact movement, I end up being turned over too close to the headboard of my bed. My head snaps backward, hitting the firm wood in the same position as the bump garnered earlier that day by Jokull. My vision turns black with the pain and then I lose consciousness.


	20. Silence

Wrote this while sobbing over the fact that Tom Hiddleston dressed as Loki and went to Comic Con and I didn't go, so please forgive any mistakes.

Now on a more serious note, **this chapter is rated M for depictions of torture**. I don't think it's especially graphic but it might be hard to read. If you don't want to read the portions about the torture, you can still read approximately the first half of the chapter. Just abort when Loki says he'll tell Callie the full story.

* * *

A nudge on my shoulder causes me to open my eyes with a groan. Still feeling tired, I immediately close them, only to have the nudging turn into a gentle shaking. With a loud huff I open my eyes again and turn over to see my tormentor.

Loki smiles at me and presses a kiss to my forehead. "We must depart soon," he says as he sits up and crawls out of bed. When he sees me still lying there he says, "We can stay if you are still not feeling well or if your injuries are bothering you. However, I think you would be disappointed if you missed this trip simply because you wouldn't get out of bed."

Still in no mood to get out of bed, I sit up slowly and wrap my arms around my legs as Loki disappears into his room. I notice a dull throbbing in the back of my head and find there is a small bump there.

"What happened last night?" I mumble groggily when Loki reappears, holding clothes in his arms. "I remember going to the bar and reconciling with you, but nothing after that."

"You lost consciousness."

"I lost consciousness? From what?"

He shrugs. "You and I were kissing on the bed and you hit your head against the backboard. I believe you re-injured yourself after your fight with Jokull yesterday."

I rub my eyes wearily, desperately trying to remember anything. "Was it just kissing? Or did we do anything else?"

Loki puts his clothes down and walks over to me, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Just kissing." He carefully examines my face, his eyes hovering on my tender cheek.

"How bad does it look?" I ask softly.

"The salve Banner used helped considerably. Though either way, you would still look stunning." He seems to hesitate for a few seconds before he leans in and lays a gentle kiss just on the edge of the bruise.

He notices that one edge of my shirt is hitched up a few inches, exposing part of my stomach. He caresses the skin, just a light trace of his fingers, before pulling it back down almost lovingly to cover myself. He then abruptly stands up and gathers his clothes before looking back at me. "Are you still intending on going on the hiking trip?"

I nod. "I haven't packed yet, though. And I still need to shower. How soon are they leaving?"

"Within the hour. I have already packed both your backpack and mine with the necessities for our journey. Go shower and I will meet you downstairs for breakfast."

He disappears into his room, presumably to also get ready, so I throw the covers off and head into my bathroom.

When I finish I find my packed backpack sitting near my bedroom door. I throw my toothbrush in and then check it to see if Loki remember everything—he did—before heading down to the dining hall. The room is filled with Norwegians standing clustered in groups, chattering loudly in anticipation of the cabin trip.

I grab food and join Loki, who passes me a few sandwiches wrapped in clear plastic. "For our midday meal," he says.

We finish eating and packing our bags full of food just as the herd of Norwegians starts migrating into the entryway. I pull on my tennis shoes and a warm, waterproof jacket before heading outside. It is not raining but the sky is an angry grey color. I would be surprised if we didn't get rained on during our hike.

The small group of Norwegians and Avengers staying behind wave us goodbye as the rest of us walk out of the parking lot and start trekking down the road, heading to a nearby forest.

Within just a few minutes we are standing before the dense forest. The smell of pine and foliage assaults my nose as we enter the forest on a well-traveled path that leads to the heart of the forest. I glance around us, suddenly uneasy, as I feel unseen eyes following our progress. I suppress the shiver and turn to Loki instead, who walks next to me. It doesn't help my anxiety, however, as I can see tension standing out in the clenching of his jaw.

I reach out and grab his hand, seeking comfort. He brushes his thumb over the back of my hand as we walk together in silence. After a few minutes the uneasy sensation fades and I find myself relaxing again.

Loki and I release hands only when the forest path narrows, its width constricted by the close growth of trees. Loki halts and waves me in front of him, putting me directly behind Stark. After we cross a small stream Stark calls over his shoulder to me.

"Hey Callie, noticed you and Loki left the bar a little early. Was this experience with Loki finally memorable?"

Ironically, it wasn't, but I'm not about to tell Stark that. Instead I roll my eyes and say, "Oh shut up, Stark."

"Oh dear, that bad? Do you want to talk about it? Maybe I could give a few pointers."

I don't answer Stark and do my best to ignore him. Stark doesn't give up easily though, and for some time afterwards he keeps making comments to try and incite me. Eventually I get sick of him and move back further in the line, pulling Loki along with me. Finally, silence.

After a few hours of walking we stop for a short break in a small clearing. Loki stays by my side during this time so it doesn't escape my notice when he suddenly tenses and swivels away from me, walking to the edge of the clearing to peer into the forest.

I follow after him. "What is it?" I can tell Loki doesn't feel frightened or threatened, merely curious, so I wonder what he could have sensed.

Loki tilts his head and slowly swivels it left and right, almost as if he's listening to something. "There's something calling to me. Somewhere off the path, deep in the heart of the forest."

"Calling to you? I don't hear anything."

"You wouldn't be able to hear it. It's meant for me, so only I can hear it."

He takes a few steps into the forest before halting and looking back at me. "Will you accompany me?"

I glance at the rest of our group, still enjoying their time in the clearing. Nobody appears to have seen us wander off. "Do you really think we should leave them? Especially if we're going off the path?"

"We can join them again later. They mentioned that the cabins we're heading to are straight down this path for some kilometers, and if we get lost, our combined abilities should be able to lead us back to them."

"Do you really think this is that important?"

"I rarely have this feeling, that of something trying to call me. It means that somewhere out in that forest is something that is meant for me to have. I am curious to see what it is."

I nod hesitantly. "Just give me a moment to let the others know." I make my way over to Romanov, standing near the outskirts of the group, and let her know what's happening. She looks a little skeptical and questions my trust in Loki. I assure her that I'll be fine and can handle myself, and with a reluctant nod she says it will be okay if I leave them for a bit. I job back to Loki and together we step out of the clearing and into the untamed forest.

Loki and I walk for about two hours into the forest, with Loki occasionally stopping and closing his eyes, seeming to listen for a signal. He adjusts our course as he sees appropriate.

Just when I am about to voice my concerns that we're wandering too far from the main path, Loki speaks up. "We're getting very close now. The singing is strong."

"Singing? What exactly are you talking about?"

Loki huffs in annoyance. "It's a complicated concept and one I doubt you would understand. In short, when we gods roamed the earth, we taught our blessed mortals a technique that would enable us to find them easily. With magic, the mortals could enchant an object to emit noise, only heard by the one the object was intended for. This noise appears as a hum from far away but grows into singing when near the object."

I can tell Loki is excited even without examining the colors surrounding him. As he pushes roughly through errant branches I see little colored sparks appear and disappear around him. The sparks are not all the same color, but rather show glimpses of love, comfort, and trust. They don't have the feel of Loki to them.

Loki abruptly increases his pace, breaking into a light jog as a small stream comes into my field of vision. He stops by the stream, right next to a giant oak tree. He places a hand on the tree as he crouches down to the ground. His other hand waves over the ground.

"It's here, in the earth," he murmurs to himself. He is so absorbed in this mystery that he appears to have forgotten me.

I stand directly across from Loki, a few feet away from where he's waving over the ground. Suddenly he flicks his hand and the dirt from a small circular area begins lifting from the ground. It hovers directly in front of his face for a moment, Loki's eyes focusing on each miniscule piece, before it parts into two even streams. It curves and flows around his body, falling to the ground just behind him.

I watch this process in fascination are more and more of the damp earth is uncovered. When a sizeable hole has been formed, I see a disturbance in the otherwise smooth and even texture of the earth. As the final layers of dirt are lifted off of it, I see that a small doll lies in the hole.

Loki ends the spell and kneels down before the hole, cupping his hands under the doll to gently raise it up. I move a few steps closer to get a better look at it. The doll is filthy and appears to be worn. It has a round head that looks to be made of some kind of fabric, with dark pieces attached for eyes. Its dark hair falls to approximately the doll's chin. It is dressed in a simple outfit complete with a cape and is small enough to fit entirely in one of Loki's hands.

Loki says nothing. He doesn't even move. He merely stares at the doll.

Finally I can no longer stand the unanswered questions hovering in the air. "Loki, what is it?"

He runs his thumb against the doll's clothing, almost seeming to caress it with tenderness. "It is me."

I wait for Loki to elaborate but he doesn't, seeming lost in another world far from here.

I decide to give Loki some time alone with his doll, so I walk over a few paces to a felled tree and take a seat. I absentmindedly run my fingers against the moss lining the bark as I look around the forest. In a repeat of that morning, I suddenly feel as though I am being watched. I turn my head to look over my shoulder, the skin of my neck prickling. I peer through the tree trunks and look for my watcher, but can see nobody.

When I turn back Loki has stood up. He looks over at me, his gaze lingering on my face as he turns the doll over and over in his hands. The intensity of his gaze is a little unsettling. Finally his graze breaks and he slips the doll into the pocket of his coat. "Come, let's return to the others," he says, not waiting for me to stand up and join him before walking off.

I jump up and chase after him. "Wait, what is it though? Why were you so attracted to it and why are you so quiet now?

"It was something made for me many years ago by a friend. It merely reminded me of something."

"And what is that?"

"Something that is inherent knowledge to you humans, but not to me."

"Can I have an answer that isn't in riddle format?"

Loki ignores me and continues weaving his way through the trees as I follow behind me. Even though I'm a little frustrated that Loki won't tell me more about this doll, I know it is best to not press him. He'll tell me if and when he's comfortable with it.

On our way back to the main path, we keep silent for a while, at least until I grow bored. Then I try to make conversation with Loki. He answers me, though with just single words or short phrases, effectively ending each conversation within mere seconds of it starting. Eventually I give up, understanding that he's now lost in his own thoughts and doesn't want to talk to me. I settle for falling in step behind him.

But after a few hours, I realize that we should have been back on the path by now, and that prompts me to speak up. "Hey Loki, are we taking a different way to the cabin? Maybe a shortcut?"

"No."

"Shouldn't we already be back on the path then?"

"We will reach it shortly."

Before long I hear the steady flow of river. We continue walking in the direction of the noise and come to a fast-moving river.

We hadn't passed this river before.

Loki still seems a little tense, so I try to phrase my words carefully so as to not set him off. "Do you remember that river from before?"

He doesn't answer so I say, "I think we might be lost."

Loki shrugs, seeming completely unconcerned that we're lost in the middle of a forest with no map or signs to guide us back to civilization. "We will find our way back eventually. You could try feeling for nearby emotions, if you want."

I close my eyes and search as far as I can, but all I see are shades of white and black. I pull my cell phone and check it, but I have no service.

"This is bad."

Loki seems annoyed now. "Like I said, we will make our way back eventually. As it is, we will not find the path if we continue to stand around here."

Loki moves on at a faster pace than before, his long legs eating up the ground before him. I fall behind him as the trees begin to grow closer together, restricting our passage so that we cannot walk abreast.

We continue walking for hours with still no signs of the trees thinning or of the main path. My anxiety begins to grow when I notice the sky growing dark above us. The light quickly starts to disappear from the forest.

I hear a soft rumble of thunder in the distance. "It's going to rain," I warn Loki as I pull the hood of my jacket over my face. Just then the wind picks up, blowing strong gusts directly into my face.

I let Loki lead the way and follow directly behind in his footstep, taking advantage of his large frame blocking me from the worst of the wind. We don't make it much farther before the sky opens up above us and rain starts pouring down. Loki, seeming to not appreciate the weather, picks up his pace and I rest a hand on his back so that I don't lose him. I keep my eyes glued to the ground so as to not get water in them.

Within mere seconds the both of us are soaked. I grimace as with every step, I can feel the water squishing around in my shoes and socks. It's always been something I hated. The wind manages to blow the hood of my jacket off and after numerous attempts at trying to keep it up, I give up and let my hair get wet.

The situation begins to look even bleaker as I consider the fact that we might have to just camp out overnight in the forest. Normally I wouldn't mind such a thing, but I would prefer not to do it in the pouring, cold rain and with malevolent beings potentially hunting us.

I gasp as I find myself stepping into ankle-deep water. I peel my eyes from the ground and look around, noticing that I'm standing in a small stream. Loki forges on ahead, neatly stepping on the stepping stones that cross the pond. I follow him carefully for the stones are slippery in the rain. As soon as Loki reaches the far bank he speeds up as if intent on reaching some target.

I temporarily lose sight of Loki as he walks through thick, overgrown bushes. I follow him, the branches pulling at me and scratching me. When I emerge on the other side I find myself standing in a clearing. A small wooden cabin rests in the middle of the clearing.

I breathe a sigh of relief. Even though this isn't our planned destination, at least we won't have to spend the night unprotected in the woods. It will feel good to start a fire and change into warm, dry clothes.

Loki strides swiftly up to the cabin door, rapping a few times on the sturdy wood. When nobody answers, he opens the door and motions for me to follow him inside.

Although the cabin is very small, only one room and a tiny bathroom, it is clean and protected from the rain. I find pots, pans, dishes, and utensils in the kitchen, along with a working stovetop so that we can cook dinner. A small wooden table sits in the kitchen, flanked on two sides by benches. A large fireplace stands in front of the couch and further behind the couch, next to the wall, stands a set of bunk beds.

"Do you think this is somebody's private cabin, or a public one we can use?" I ask Loki.

"I cannot tell," he says as he sets his backpack down on the floor near the entrance.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," I mutter. "We need somewhere to stay tonight."

Loki doesn't comment and instead says, "I am going to chop firewood so that we can dry our clothes and warm the building." He slams the door shut behind me, leaving me alone in the cabin. I occupy myself by unloading our backpacks. I lay all of our wet clothes near the fireplace to dry, while I put our food in the kitchen. The Norwegians had suggested that hot dogs would be an easy meal to prepare at the cabin, so that was what we were going to be eating tonight for dinner.

Loki comes back within a few minutes, carrying a pile of chopped wood with him. He places a few logs in the fire and then lights them, presumably with magic as I don't see him holding any matches. He steps out of his shoes and moves them close to the fire before stripping off his wet socks and laying those over the mantle.

He then proceeds to strip off his clothing. I don't bat an eyelash when he takes his shirt off, but when he removes his pants I find I can't stop staring. His hands then move to the top of his boxers. Instead of pulling his boxers down, his hands remain on the waistband. He turns to look at me.

"You're blushing."

I cough, attempting to hide my embarrassment. "Yeah, it's just you know, you could go into the bathroom if you wanted to change."

"I wasn't going to change," he says, one of his eyebrows raised. "The rest of my clothes are wet as well, so I was planning on drying in front of the fire."

"Oh," I say. I can feel my face turning even redder so I turn my back on Loki and walk back into the kitchen, where I anxiously shuffle our food items around.

"Why are you uncomfortable? We almost had sex last night, which would require you seeing me naked, and yet here you are unable to look at me."

I shrug and blush even more. "I don't know. I guess it's just different seeing you naked because we're going to be, you know, and then just seeing you naked when we're… not… going to be… I don't know, I don't know what I'm saying. It's fine; just strip off your clothes and dry."

Loki sighs. "I will cover myself with my sleeping bag, if that will help you feel more comfortable. It isn't wet like everything else."

"Okay," I say as I turn around and walk back over to the fire, where Loki is sitting with the sleeping bag covering his lap. I look at Loki quickly, his pale skin glowing in the firelight, before I avert my eyes. I move my boots and socks over to rest near his in front of the fire before taking a seat a few feet away from him.

"Are you not going to take your clothes off to dry? You will be more comfortable."

"I'm fine," I say, trying to repress a shiver. In truth, I want nothing more than to shuck my clothes off and get dry, but I don't want to be naked in front of Loki. I realized that if last night had proceeded as planned, I would have been naked, but that would have been different. I could have turned the light off in my room so that we were plunged into darkness. Then he would not have to see my body and I could hide. But here, in front of the fire, every inch of my body would be exposed and visible to him.

A shiver escapes my control and I wrap my arms around my chest to try and still it. Loki notices it.

"If you wish, you could go into the bathroom and change and then wrap your sleeping bag around yourself. I will not look at you or touch you if you do not want me too."

I nod, chewing on my lip. Finally I decide that I cannot bear to sit in my wet clothes any longer, so I walk around behind Loki, out of his vision, and quickly peel off my clothes. I wrap my sleeping bag entirely around my body before resuming my seat next to him.

"It is much better, isn't it?" he asks, sending me a gentle smile. I smile in response and lean my face gratefully out to the fire. The warmth feels comforting on my skin.

I start when Loki reaches out and traces a small scar on my uncovered arm. "I have scars, too," he says. There is a far-away look in his eyes, as if he's reliving some memory. "Normally we gods don't scar. The exception is when our injuries are inflicted on us by another immortal being. As such, I received many when I was imprisoned under Vidar."

Loki removes his hand from my arm and turns to the fire. I study his face as he looks into the flames. I can see a number of different feelings swirling around him—sadness, fear, loathing, indecision. After a few moments I see him collect himself. He turns to me.

His eyes search my face for a long time. Finally they drop to the floor and he says quietly, "If you will listen, I will tell you the full story."

* * *

They come early for me the morning after the end of the trial, the squadron of Asgardian soldiers who were to accompany me to Vidar's. Odin certainly had spared nothing to hire the best soldiers. Whether he did this because he actually viewed me as dangerous, or just did it to appease the other Asgardians who saw me as a menace, I will never know. But even though the soldiers were all hardened and battle-tested, I knew I could easily overcome them. I toy briefly with the possibility of doing so before discarding it. There is no point; I would undoubtedly be caught before managing to flee Asgard. All pathways between the realms were to remain closed until I was safely imprisoned so I would have to rely on my own magic, which would take precious time I did not have.

So instead I remain placid and motionless as the squadron forms a rectangle around me to eliminate all possibility of escape. I look one last time around my bedroom in the palace, knowing it will be a long time before I see it again.

Vidar's territory lies a long way from the palace, out where the Asgardian landscape changes into something a little more feral. We pass out of the clean, organized layout of the city and traverse over gentle rolling hills. After a few hours we pass over final small rise. Vidar's sprawling, grandiose house lies down in the valley below. Just behind it lies the wild, untamed forest, which endlessly stretches out to the horizon.

My skin starts crawling as soon as I step onto Vidar's property. Maybe it is the relatively wild feel of the area compared to the palace and surrounding areas, or maybe I was feeling anxious about my imprisonment. Or maybe it was because of the natural silence present on the property. Being close to the forest, I should have heard numerous animals, yet nothing broke the peace in the air. Whatever the cause may have been, I instantly felt uncomfortable, though I did my best to not show it.

Tended gardens line the front of Vidar's house, trying to impart a sense of comfort despite the cold, unwelcoming feel of the forest. Just as we draw level with the gardens the large front door opens. Vidar emerges, coming to greet us.

The soldiers in front of me halt and step out of the way as Vidar walks right up to me. He is a rather unimpressive figure for a god. His face is sharp and finely crafted and he would be considered handsmoe by Midgardian standards, but it is nothing exceptional compared to the other gods and goddesses of Asgard. He stands several inches shorter than I and his build is stocky, though he is clearly fit. Yet despite his underwhelming appearance, it is possible for some to feel awed in his presence. He projects a sense of self-importance and holds himself in a calm and collected manner.

"Welcome to my home, Loki. Even though you are to be imprisoned here, I still hope that you will be comfortable."

His words send warning bells ringing in my head, for I can feel the lie behind them. He should have known better than to try and lie in front of the trickster god, though his words were probably just a show for the guards.

"Of course, under the terms of the imprisonment agreement, your magical powers will be bound by me. Only I can restore them. Any attempts by you to use your magic will leave you feeling drained and exhausted, so I recommend that you do not try and test it. I will bind them now."

Vidar draws himself up to his full height and speaks the incantation that will deprive me of my powers. I feel the loss as soon as he finishes speaking. Where I would normally feel the magical part of me, I now feel nothing but an empty space.

"Well now that's done, let's take you to your new home."

Vidar gestures for the soldiers to escort me in through the main entrance of his house. We walk up the elegant staircase to the second floor and then down the hall before Vidar stops in front of us. He opens one of the plain wooden doors.

Inside is a simple, but clean, room. A small bed sits inside along with a rigid wooden chair and a table. The only door in the room leads to a bathroom; I can see the white porcelain of the bathtub through the open doorway. The room is dark due to the absence of any windows, but Vidar quickly amends this by lighting a candle.

"As you can see, it is not what you are accustomed to, but of course you are in prison now." Vidar motions for the soldiers to step away from me and leave the room. "You will be locked in this room until your sentence has been served. Food will be brought to you three times a day. When you hear a knock on the room a servant will enter to leave your food. You will stand against the wall opposite the door and not make any moves to approach the servant. You will make no attempts to speak to the servant. If you disobey these orders you will be physically restrained whenever anybody needs to enter your room. Is that understood?" I nod in response.

"Excellent. I have matters to attend to but I will return later to see how you are faring. Until then."

Vidar walks out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind him. Out of curiosity I test the doorknob, but find that it is indeed locked. With nothing else to do, I sit on the bed and think.

I am interrupted a few hours later by the arrival of food. I do as Vidar instructed, standing against the far wall, and watch as a young female servant enters carrying a tray of food. Her eyes glance nervously over at me before dropping back down to the food she carries. She sets the tray down and then leaves, glancing anxiously over her shoulder at me as she walks to the door.

I eat the meal in silence. Though the fare is course and simple, it is filling. When I finish I hear another knock on my door.

This time Vidar enters, carrying another chair with him. He sets it down so that it is directly facing my own and then sits down, carefully watching me the entire time.

"I trust you are enjoying the room and your food so far?"

I nod.

He shrugs, a small, malicious smile curling up his lips. "Well, that's unfortunate, as tomorrow you will be moved to another place which I fear you will not find so agreeable."

I had had my suspicions about the nicety of my prison, though I had not chosen to acknowledge them earlier. "You did this just so the soldiers would see and report this back to Odin," I say with absolute certainty. It makes sense that Vidar would make sure Odin would have favorable reports of my imprisonment, so it wouldn't look like Vidar was breaking the agreement.

Vidar smiles again. "You're very perceptive, I must give you that. Though I doubt even you can understand why I dislike you so much."

I shrug. "Does it matter now? Clearly I wronged you in the past and now you will have your revenge on me, regardless of what I say."

"Clever boy. You will be awakened early tomorrow morning and taken to your new cell. Once again you will be escorted by soldiers, though they will be my own this time and not Odin's. Thus, trying to warn them will do you no good."

With that he leaves, taking the extra chair with him. I sigh and sink into my bed, pondering over how bad this situation with Vidar could possibly become.

True to Vidar's word, the soldiers arrive early in my room the following morning. Once again they surround me before walking me out of the house, though this time we exit through the back door.

As soon as we step outside I am greeted with the eerie silence of Vidar's grounds. The stillness is disconcerting, even more so when my eyes scan the trees and find them full of birds and small rodents—none of which are making any noise.

I shudder and draw my eyes away from the trees to see that the soldiers are guiding me towards an ugly grey building. They thrust open the doors and I follow, immediately walking down metal stairs that clank underneath my boots. A dank, musty smell hits me as we follow the stairs downward. When the stairs reach their end I find we are standing in a dark, narrow passageway that seems to be crudely made. Both the walls and floor are made only of packed earth and cobwebs stretch over the walls. The hallway is lit by a scarce number of lamps that send out very little light, making it hard to see much detail of the surroundings.

The soldiers gesture for me to walk in front of them, then with a shove, indicate that I should walk down the passageway. I hear crunching noises as I step on old bones and the dead bodies of insects but do my best to try and ignore them. I hear crunching noises as I step on bones and the dead bodies of insects.

At the end of the passageway is a window that looks into a tiny, dark room, lit only by a single flickering candle. There is no furniture in the room, only two pairs of shackles that are bolted to the floor and a bucket. A robust metal door stands next to the window. As I stop next to the window one of the soldiers moves up in front of me, opening the door and then hauling me inside.

The door slams shut behind me and I am alone in the room. I find that I cannot see the window from inside the room, meaning it is one-way. I shrug and then sit down in the corner, feeling disgusted as I brush the insects out of my way.

I have no way of keeping time inside the cell. Meals are not brought to me regularly, and when they are, it generally consists of a small piece of bread and a cup of water. I draw designs into the packed earth of the cell as a way to help stave off the boredom that threatens me so.

Then one day, or night as I cannot tell the difference down here, I am awakened when the door to my cell opens. I sit up and see Vidar joining me in my cell. He walks over to me and squats in front of me, his eyes taking in my disheveled and dirty appearance.

"By now, I imagine you realize that this imprisonment will not be within the guidelines set down by Odin. I can promise that you will have unimaginable tortures thrust upon you and you will not be able to speak a word of this to anybody. You will be physically tortured, though you will find that I enjoy psychological torture much more. There are simply endless possibilities when toying with another's mind, and it becomes so easy to break them."

"You will not break me so easily."

Vidar smiles cruelly. "Oh, I do not know about that. I have tricks under my sleeve that you have never even considered. But for now, let's ease you into this, shall we? We will begin by establishing some rules between us.

"First, I am your king now, and you will refer to me accordingly. You will kneel in my presence, you will not touch me, you will not speak unless directed to do so, and you will not make eye contact with me unless I ask you to. You will do whatever it is I tell you to do without question. If you disobey, you will be punished. You are no longer royalty here; you are my slave, and you will be treated as such.

"Second, if you find that one of your punishments becomes too much for you, there is a possibility that you can end it if you beg me to do so. You must grovel and plead with me for this to be acceptable.

"Third, you are the possession of all of my soldiers. You will do whatever they ask you to do. You will respect them, although of course this does not require the same level of respect as when you address me.

"Fourth, and most importantly, you will make no noise of any kind while you are being punished. If you do, your punishment will only be increased. And I mean noise of any kind—no screams, shouts, whimpers, or crying. All will be offensive to me.

"Is this understood? Answer me if so."

I look up at Vidar from my place on the floor, deliberately making eye contact with him. I can see that even that simple gesture makes him furious. I smile at him. "It will take more than that to break me."

Vidar's eyebrows raise as he is seemingly surprised by my answer. He should have known better than to expect complete compliance from me. "We will see if you respond the same after you have experienced one of my punishments. I suppose we can do that now, seeing as you require pain before you will obey me. And besides, you're looking a bit peaky today, so I think the exercise will do you some good."

Magical shackles form around my wrists, limiting my range of movement. Vidar takes me above ground and out into the forest, where I find a makeshift ring set up. Several of his soldiers are sparring with each other inside the ring but they stop when they see us approaching. I see several of them sneer as Vidar forces me into the ring. He exits, closing the door behind him, before comfortably standing near the ring.

"My soldiers need a little practice, so they will take you all on at once. Your shackles will not be removed and of course, your magic is unavailable to you. Other than that, you may do whatever you choose to fight them."

I sneer; even with these handicaps, I will easily be able to defeat them. He must underestimate the physical training I had while at the palace.

"Oh, and remember to keep silent."

As the soldiers circle around me I try to crouch down into a defensive stance but find I am unable to move. I experimentally try to swing my arms around but find that my entire body is trapped by an invisible force.

"You did not mention that your magic would be part of the fight," I spit towards Vidar.

"Ah ah ah, I did say to keep silent, did I not?"

I open my mouth to let out an angry retort but find that I am unable to speak. I glare at Vidar just as one of the soldiers approaches me and forces me down to my knees. He smiles, a predator knowing he is about to deliver a stunning blow to his prey, and knees me in the chest so that I crouch over as I gasp for breath.

The rest of the soldiers join in, dragging me around the ring and beating me up until I bleed and bruises cover my body. At some point, long after I am seriously injured, Vidar releases his hold on me. I crawl on my hands and knees as I struggle to stand up and defend myself against the still-attacking soldiers.

I find instead that Vidar is standing in front of me, the other soldiers forming a circle just behind him. "Now that you have a taste of what I can do to you, kneel and pay your proper respects to me."

"I will not."

Vidar lets his soldiers resume beating me up until I can no longer move, then he hauls me back to my cell. This scenario repeats daily for the next few days, until Vidar realizes that I am resisting better than he ever anticipated.

One day Vidar walks into my cell and crouches down in front of me, examining my mangled face. "I must say, I did not quite expect you to resist me for this long. I have decided to move onto the psychological torture, since I feel it is something that will break you much faster."

I wait for Vidar to start torturing me but all he does is pace around my cell, quietly talking to me. "It's amazing how much noise is in the universe. Everything makes noise, if you know how to listen for it. The slow ticking of a clock, the gentle breathing of lovers as they sleep in each other's arms, the crackling of a warm fire burning. But even thoughts themselves make noise. You cannot hear it, I know. Only I alone am capable of enduring the torture of hearing constant noise from peoples' thoughts. It nearly drove me mad when I was a child. That is why I seek solitude in the forests, for there at least I am alone.

"But then I learned how to inflict silence on whatever I saw fit. Screaming, howls of pain, explosions; I silenced the noise of all of them. Those who speak out against me, or who would voice their fears of me to Odin, find themselves silenced and unable to speak.

"The one thing I have never attempted is to silence thoughts. Now that I have you, pet, I think I might like to try it out. Shall we do this, or would you like to go back to getting beat up by my soldiers?"

I do not respond so Vidar walks to me and places his hands on my head, just above my ears. He grips my head tightly enough that the pressure is painful and digs his nails into my scalp. I look up at Vidar to see him gritting his teeth, and then suddenly, I cannot speak, though I move my mouth and try to utter words.

And then it's gone. My ability to think.

He leaves me like that for weeks. It does not take long for me to go mad. Silence is a beautiful thing, but not when you have to face silence of your own thoughts. I become unresponsive to all stimuli and stare at the walls for days on end. The servants have to force-feed me, as I cannot summon up the thought that I need to eat. I become lost in the silence of my own mind.

Vidar visits me throughout this torture. Every time he is unusually gentle and caring of me. He touches my face gently and asks me what hell I'm experiencing; some days he brushes my hair or strokes it. Sometimes he even bathes me, touching me in sensuous ways and smiling when he feels my muscles tense in response.

Eventually Vidar grows bored with me, seemingly not amused to see me sit and stare at the wall for days on end. One day he enters my cell, roughly turning me away from the wall to look at me. "You have proven that it is possible for me to silence somebody's mind, although I must say, it was not quite as dramatic as I was anticipating. I'm hoping that when I release you from the silence, you might react a bit more."

He touches my forehead and then suddenly, the silence is gone. Instantly I am plagued with all kinds of thoughts, all sorts of noises. It's like when you're underwater and all the sounds are muffled, or completely absent, and then you emerge from the water to find that everything is so loud. Except this time I had been without the noise of my own thoughts for weeks.

The pain is excruciating. I clap my hands to my ears in desperation to try and block some of the noise, forgetting that the noise is not external but rather coming from within me. I try to scream out my pain but it slipped my mind that Vidar removed the silence only from my mind, not my body. The scream internalizes, putting more stress on my body. I panic and begin to flail around as my body is overwhelmed by all the sensations. My nose and ears start to bleed. Even my tears turn to blood as a result of internal injuries. I cannot keep myself upright because of the strong tremors that crash through my body. I collapse to the ground and begin seizing as my mind finds itself unable to deal with the situation. Shortly afterwards I go into shock.

I nearly died at the hands of Vidar because of this. Immortality stretches only to protect a god against natural occurrences of death, such as diseases and old age, and against attacks by lesser beings. It does nothing against other immortal beings. Never before have I come so close to death before this moment and it terrified me even more.

When I finally recover, I come back to myself very slowly. It takes me a long time to remember who I am and why I am here; it takes time for me to remember the own flavor of my thoughts and what they used to sound like to me. It takes time for me to recall the identity of my essence, of what makes me who I am. Eventually I feel more suited in my own skin but I'm not the same as before. The torture irreversibly changed me. Every once in a while, I get a glimpse of how I used to be and feel indescribably sad. All I want is to be who I was again, but I know these scars will never completely heal.

I also find that I am especially sensitive to noise again. I hear tiny scrapes and whispers that would have missed my notice before. It is during this period that I hear the twins talking. I can't discern much, but I can hear the threats they make against the realms. I ignore it, though, not having any reason to tell the others.

After I learn how to be myself again, Vidar visits me. He asks if this time I'll abide to the rules. I nod and feel the magic on my body release, allowing me to make noise. Though it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, I call him "your majesty" and avoid meeting his gaze. I hate myself for doing so, but I cannot bear to be plunged into that silence again. I fear I will not find myself again if I become lost.

Yet despite my fear and my compliance to the rest of his demands, I cannot bring myself to kneel for him. I cannot kneel for somebody who desires it as much as he; somebody who will tear me apart simply to see our roles reversed and me pledging my eternal devotion for him.

"Kneel, Loki," he snaps harshly, attempting to forcibly push me down to my knees himself. When I lock my knees and prevent him from doing so, he storms out of the room. When he comes back he is yielding a long, thick whip. "Get on your hands and knees," he says as I obey. He rips the shirt off my body and then shackles me to the ground as he proceeds to whip me until I can feel my blood pooling on the ground beneath me.

A small whimper escapes my lips as the whip cuts through my skin with ease. Vidar hears the noise and instantly stops. I can hear the whip hit the ground as he throws it to the floor in rage.

"What did I say about making noise?" he asks me, wrenching my face up to look at him. "I will have to increase your punishment now."

He pulls out a large butcher knife from his belt and then proceeds to flay me, removing large portions of the skin from my back. In order to keep myself from crying out, I try and retreat into my own mind. This only reminds me of the silence I experienced earlier at his hands and the complete blankness of my thoughts. I withdraw hastily and set myself to dealing with this, feeling my resolve steadily crack.

Vidar loses his control this time and removes so much skin that I very nearly bleed to death. Once again, I feel terror run through me as I consider the end of my own life and my newfound mortality. It takes me weeks to recover, for the skin to reform, and even after it does, my back remains crisscrossed with thick scars. Vidar sees me several times throughout the healing, clucking his disappointment. "I'm afraid I may have gone a little too far that time, dear Loki. I will be gentler with you next time."

Yet when I heal, he submits me to new horrors once again. He uses the standard tortures on me, the ones that Midgardians often inflict on others, before deciding that he needs to do something more creative.

"I believe you have noticed how quiet my forest is here. It's beautiful, isn't it? No loud, unnecessary noises, just the peace and quiet to think.

"Yet at the same time I feel as if you don't appreciate it as I do, though I would very much like you to do so. So I think you should spend some time alone in the forest. I'm going to apply a silence on your mind again, as I believe it will help you embrace the quiet, though it will not be so complete this time. And in some ways, it will be different."

I feel a quick rush of fear at the thought of silence but it is quickly erased when Vidar presses his hand against my face. The next thing I know, I'm waking up alone in the forest in the middle of the night. Vidar had promised the silence would not be complete and it seems he was telling the truth, for I am still able to form thoughts.

I clumsily stand, a little confused of why my body aches so. I look down at the scars marking my body and try as I might, I cannot think of how I acquired them. I shrug and let the matter drop as I look around my surroundings. _Where the hell am I?_ I think. _How did I get here; what was I doing? Where do I need to return to?_

I wander through the forest for days and days, adrenaline constantly rushing through my system. The silence of the forest disturbs me endlessly, especially when I come to a stream without hearing it first, or when an animal walks before me without making any noise. Once a storm rushes through and though I can see the lightning, I cannot hear the thunder. One lightning strike hits and tree and fells it, though I do not hear any part of its demise.

But perhaps even more disturbing to me is the lack of knowledge in my mind. I try to recall who I am and what my past was, but the thoughts just always snake out of my reach. I cannot remember why I am wandering in this forest; I don't even know where this forest resides. My thoughts don't feel right to me, either. They feel hollow and fake and lacking all depth. I can think enough to survive and keep walking towards my unknown target, but I cannot have any deep conversations with myself or question anything I do.

At one point I see another man standing in the forest, though I do not recognize him. I try to rush towards him, thinking I might ask him who I am and where we are, but he merely holds a finger over his lips and I find myself halting in place. I turn around and continue walking, just ignoring the man as he stands there and watches me.

Eventually I exit the horrendous forest and find myself standing before a large house. A man approaches me and embraces me, saying, "I must say, you did better than I expected."

I back away from the man cautiously. "I do not know you."

The man smiles almost grotesquely. "Excellent."

And then once again, I'm waking up in my cell as Vidar sits in front of me. He smiles coldly at me. "Did you enjoy the peaceful silence of the forest?"

I look down towards the ground and say, "Yes, your majesty."

"Good. Now there is something I want to try. Stand up."

I do as he says.

"Now kneel before me."

I kneel.

This torture continues for several more months. I become completely subservient to Vidar, doing anything possible to keep myself from the torture of the silence. He continues to toy with me and deprive me of all noises, but I find I can tolerate anything, so long as my own thoughts are no longer taken from me.

But then one day Vidar arrives to say that Asgard has use for me once more. I am taken out of the cell and back to the palace, which is so loud I almost cannot stand it. I have to adjust to life as a royal prince once more while dealing with the snickers of the other gods and goddesses. I experience difficulty looking anybody in the eyes and not kneeling to every person who walks by me.

The matter becomes even more complicated when Vidar returns to court. I cannot stop myself from kneeling before him, as it is too strongly engrained in me. We are the subject of much speculation around court and though I imagine Odin suspects some foul play, at this time it is too late to intervene.

And then I am free from all of it—from all my problems of adjusting to Asgard and from the grasp of Vidar, for I was sent to help here on Midgard. I certainly did not want to help you mortals, since you were the ones who caused me to endure such torture, though I must admit that I was relieved to be free of Vidar.

But even though I am still free of my torturer, I find that the torture laid deep scars on me. I still fear waking up and finding my thoughts gone. I fear unending silence. I dislike forests. And most of all, I fear that the scars of my torture will continue to haunt me for the rest of my long, endless life.

* * *

Loki doesn't look at me when he finishes his story; he just stares into the fire. I can see the emotions flickering over him, so fast it makes my eyes hurt—pain, sadness, anger, hurt. The force of his emotions is almost overwhelming to me. It almost feels like the first time I met him and his blue was blinding to me. I notice that a few stray tears escape his eyes to roll down his cheeks as he just continues to stare into the flames.

I know what it is to be in his place. I know what it's like to share a painful story with another and to then have trouble getting it out of your head. For while talking to others can be cathartic, it still hurts when you have to recall these memories that you would much rather keep buried.

I shuffle over to Loki, the sleeping bag wrapped around me making things a bit awkward. I don't stop moving until our knees bump together, though Loki still doesn't look at me when we make contact. I free one arm from the nest of my sleeping bag and gently cup the far side of his head, pulling it down to rest on my shoulder. I gently lay my head on top of his as I place my hand over his in comfort.

I say nothing, not knowing what would be appropriate to say in such a situation like this. Instead I let him take comfort in my presence. I also weakly project some emotions onto him to try and eliminate the pain and hurt he's feeling. I carefully project love, sympathy, and comfort onto him, noticing that his own negative colors begin to lighten and fade a bit in response. I make sure not to project too strongly, as I don't want him to notice and then push me away from him.

"We all have our own scars," I say softly as I continue to hold him. "Some of us have scars that are so painful, even years after the event that formed them, that they will always be with us, unfading even over time. But that's the thing, Loki—they're scars. They represent wounds that have healed over. So even though you have the memory of the wound, the scar, the wound itself is long gone. He is no longer hurting you. You'll always remember what he did to you, but the fact that the wound healed is a sign that you're strong and can overcome the past. Physically, you are healed, but I can tell you're still working on healing emotionally. But that's okay. You can take your time because I know you will get there eventually."

I feel Loki's head turning so I lift my head up from his. He rotates his head so that he is looking at me, his chin resting on my shoulder.

"Will you help me heal?" he says, sounding so broken and alone it scares me.

"Of course. Those of us who have been abused have to help each other out. We'll heal each other together," I say softly before closing those last few centimeters between us and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. When the kiss ends I rest my forehead against his and close my eyes.

After some time I squirm uncomfortably, the awkward angle of my neck starting to bother me. Loki senses this and pulls me into his arms as he lies down. "We should sleep," he says, sounding drowsy already. His arm loosely wraps around my waist.

I bury my face in his chest and within fall asleep within seconds.


	21. Scars

Recap for people who skipped the last chapter: Loki is escorted to Vidar's property, where at first it seems like Loki will be treated fairly. However, as soon as the Asgardian soldiers leave, Loki is moved to a dirtier, darker prison cell where Vidar reveals his kind treatment was just a show for the soldiers to report back to Odin. Vidar initially tortures Loki physically but when Loki refuses to break, decides to move onto psychological torture. Vidar silences Loki's thoughts and leaves him there to rot. Eventually he removes the silence from Loki's mind and the ensuing noise is so unbearable to Loki that he nearly dies. A later torture involves Loki being released into the forest, again with the silence inflicted on his mind—though this time it's different. He can still form thoughts but is disturbed by the lack of knowledge in his mind. This type of torture continues for several months more until Loki is taken to Asgard and then later to Midgard, to help with the situation on earth.

**Moving on, this chapter is rated M for fondue.**

**i.e. sex.**

**Yee-haw.**

(Also comments on this chapter in particular would be really appreciated—was it satisfactory? Anything I need to improve? Keep in mind I didn't want the scene to be explicitly described.)

(And I apologize for screwing up earlier... I think those of you who are subscribed to the story got two emails about this chapter notification. I posted the chapter initially but immediately after doing so realized I forgot to insert the line breaks. So I deleted it, fixed it, and then re-submitted. Sorry)

* * *

The cold wakes me a few hours later. I sleepily sit up and look at the fireplace, seeing that the fire is vastly diminished. I stand up carefully, trying not to disturb Loki while keeping my sleeping bag completely covering me at the same time, and walk over to the fire. I throw a few more logs into the fire and blow softly on the small flame, helping it to grow into a full blaze.

When the fire is crackling merrily again I make my way back over to Loki. As I walk around from behind him I notice a number of scars blemishing the clear, perfect skin of his back. I lower myself gently to my knees and run my hands over his back, pausing when I see one scar that stands out more clearly than the others, directly over one of Loki's shoulder blades. It is crescent-shaped and as large as my hand. I carefully trace the outlines of the scar with a finger as I monitor Loki's chest for any changes in breathing. When he doesn't seem to awaken, I lean forward and press a gentle kiss against the skin.

I stand up and then walk over to Loki's other side, settling myself down right next to him. As soon as I am situated, I look at Loki to see that his eyes are open and he's watching me carefully.

"Did I wake you?"

"No. I have been awake for some time now. You saw the scars, then."

"Yeah. Were they from Vidar?"

Loki nods. "From when he whipped me and then flayed me afterwards."

I kiss Loki. "I still think you're beautiful."

Loki captures my chin in his hand and pulls me closer to him. He kisses me passionately as I wrap my arms around his neck. We are content to stay here for some time, just kissing each other without feeling the need to touch or move this further along.

When I break away for air Loki drops his face down to my shoulder. I can feel him mumble something against my skin but I don't understand what he says.

"What was that?"

He lifts his head up from my shoulder and kisses my cheek. "I said, you were just the medicine I needed after the situation with Vidar. Never during my torture with Vidar did I ever imagine that I could return to normal after I was freed. I thought that for the rest of my life I would be trapped in bouts of pain and silence. But you… you, with your remarkable ability and your strength, have brought music back into my life."

Loki takes my face in both of his hands and leaves a trail of kisses over every inch of skin, starting from my forehead, crossing over my eyelids and down my nose, over my cheeks, and finally ending at my chin. He kisses the line of my jaw before moving to my neck, alternating between kissing the skin there and gently sucking it. He pauses over the point where my pulse beats steadily in my throat before kissing that too.

"In the thousands of years of my existence, I have never met anybody like you. I have never seen such strength in a mortal, especially after suffering through what you did. It's truly admirable and I wish I could be more like you."

"You're wrong," I say, noticing that he sharply raises his head to look at me. "For wanting to be more like me, because I think you're stronger than I am. I don't think I could have gone through what you did with Vidar and not wanted to kill myself. I couldn't have survived the loss of my thoughts and the silence."

Loki nips gently at my collarbone, eliciting a gasp from me. "I think you are not fully understanding of just what you are capable of, Callie.

"But I can show you, if you will let me."

I nod, a little unsure of if we're talking about the same thing. But Loki's kisses remain chaste and his hands do not stray from their position on my hips.

One of my hands falls down from Loki's shoulder to rest on my stomach. Instantly he captures it in his own hand, bringing it up in front of his face. He stretches my fingers out and examines them completely.

"I have always believed you can tell much about a person from their hands."

"Then what do my hands say about me?" I ask, a bit breathlessly.

He turns my hand over and kisses my palm. "That you are hard-working." He turns it over yet again and traces his fingers over the two small scars situated near the base of my thumb. "That you are resilient. That you are well-adapted to change." He kisses the knuckle of my ring finger, which has an ugly red scar from my childhood on it. "That you have a big heart, though you are scared of opening it to others."

Loki places my hand gently back on my stomach and then makes his way back to my lips, where he resumes kissing me. I can feel heat pooling in my stomach and suddenly I know that I want more than this. Even though it terrifies me, I want Loki.

I know that Loki won't push my boundaries past where he thinks I am comfortable, so I take both of his hands off my hips and move them to the top of the sleeping bag, where it is covering my chest. With my hands over his I push the fabric down until it is just under my breasts.

Loki's hands cover my breasts and then proceed to touch the sensitive skin, causing me to gasp in delight. When he kisses them individually, paying as careful attention to them as he showed to the other parts of my body, I grasp his shoulder firmly and hold him there.

When Loki finishes with my breasts his hands fall down to the top of the sleeping bag again. My hands quickly fly up to cover his again, squeezing them and preventing him from moving the fabric down any lower. My stomach squirms with butterflies.

"What is it?" he asks, his eyes concerned and a trace of confusion in his brow.

"Scars," I say fearfully.

Loki nods, seeming to understand my hesitation. He kisses me, helping to distract me from the anxiety running through my system. Eventually I gain the nerve to help him slide the sleeping bag down to my belly button.

Loki leans back on his elbows as he looks at my stomach, his eyes immediately landing on the long scar there, stretching from collarbone to navel. It is the scar my father marked me with. Although I no longer find the scar painful, I think it unsightly due to its length and its raised pink skin.

This is the first time Loki's seen my scar in its entirety. I have no doubt it escaped his notice either when he was touching my shoulders, looking at my breasts, or rubbing his hands against my stomach all those times before when we made out, but I doubt he made the connection that the uneven skin was all part of one long scar. And plus, he's never seen it in such exposed light as this situation.

Without taking his eyes from the skin, he runs his finger down the length of the scar, from the top of my collarbone, down between my breasts, and finally ending at my belly button. I shiver as he does so, my heart pounding in my chest as I wonder what he's thinking.

He continues to stare at it for a long time before looking back up to my face. His face softens when he looks at me and instantly I see the area around him flash red with deep blood-red: love.

"You are beautiful. Even scars cannot mar that beauty."

He kisses the scar carefully as his hands sweep up and down my sides. When he finishes with my sides and the scar his hands grasp the sleeping bag once more, looking at me to ensure that it's okay. I nod, just once, and then he pulls the sleeping bag off, completely exposing my body to him.

Loki takes his time exploring me. He plays with my toes and my feet, seeming especially interested in my one crooked toe; he strokes his hands up and down my calves; he kisses me behind the knees and tickles me gently.

When he reaches my thighs he parts them, even though I feel the urge to resist, suddenly apprehensive. His hands massage my thighs just above my knees soothingly, as if he knows just what I am feeling. I blush and look away from Loki, up at the ceiling, as I am exposed to him.

Finally he moves up my body, resting my head down on my stomach. "The ancient Greeks would have written countless poems about your exquisite beauty. As much as it's a shame they never met you, it means I can have you entirely to myself, and that only I will be able to look upon you and appreciate your allure."

I place my hands on Loki's head and carefully run my fingers down through his hair. I hear him sigh and I continue with the motion, feeling myself relax while doing so.

When Loki raises his head from my stomach to look at me, I grab his shoulders, indicating that he should move up closer to me. When he does so I move my hands to his slim hips, where the sleeping bag is loosely covering him. He nods in response to my questioning look.

"Although," he says as he wraps an arm around behind my back, "wait just a moment." He then easily turns us over so that he is lying below me, something managing to weasel my unused sleeping bag under his body for cushioning. I flush again as I realize that my breasts are hanging in front of his face, and to distract myself, try to focus on Loki's body below me.

Loki helps me in removing the sleeping bag from his lower body, shucking it off to the side. I avoid looking at his groin, still feeling a little shy, and instead focus on his chest. Although his appearance is not bulky or overly muscled, I can see the toned muscles that contribute to his lithe body. I trace my fingers over the edges of his muscles, marveling at the strong feel of him below me.

Uncertain, I play with his nipples, noting how he closes his eyes in pleasure and groans. His hands run up and down my arms in encouragement as I kiss my way down to his belly button.

Finally I can avoid it no longer. I sit up again and look at his groin, eyes widening as I do so. He chuckles softly as he places one hand on my thigh. I rest one of my hands on him, again feeling satisfaction when he positively reacts. I feel him, marveling at his form, before Loki grasps my hips and turns us over again, seemingly impatient.

When he looks at me now I can see the lust both in his eyes and in his emotions, surrounded by the clear halo of love. I feel him position himself at my entrance and I tense up, my heart beating wildly in my chest.

I swallow thickly and look at him. "I'm scared."

He rubs his thumb caressingly against my cheek. "This will not be like what you experienced when you were raped. I will be gentle with you. You will not experience pain this time, but pleasure.

"I love you, Caroline. I will do nothing to harm you."

With that, I draw in a deep breath and nod for Loki to continue. He pushes into me slowly as my breath catches in my throat. I wince, my eyes closing shut in pain.

"It hurts," I whimper, my nails digging into his arms unconsciously.

He ceases his movement and kisses me lovingly for a few moments. When I give him the nod to continue, he does so, until finally his hips are resting on mine.

"Are you okay?"

I nod and he withdraws before slowly entering me again. I feel pleasure instead of pain this time, though the sensation is still foreign to me. Loki continues to move slowly and carefully, laying kisses on my face and on my lips.

When I begin to feel something building in me I clutch Loki's hips in desperation. "I… faster," I say, a little shyly. Loki smiles and begins to move faster until I feel the wave of pleasure washing over me. I cry out his name as my back arches off the floor and my toes curl, my body shaking with the intensity of the sensation. Loki finds his own release a few moments later, twitching before falling on top of me, breathing heavily.

Although his weight feels comforting on me, after a while it begins to restrict my breathing. I push on Loki's shoulder and he gets the hint, pressing another kiss to my lips before rolling off of me. He grabs my hand in his own as we lay there.

I turn my head to look at Loki and smile at him, feeling my heart filling up with love when I see him. Loki smiles back at me, reaching his free hand out to touch my cheek.

"You have the most beautiful flush on your face," he says quietly, his eyes twinkling.

I smile in response and, suddenly and ridiculously feeling exposed, lay my free hand on my scar where it breaks the skin of my stomach. Loki's eyes follow my movement.

"We will heal our past wounds together," he says before pulling me to him and murmuring quietly to me until I fall asleep in his protective, comforting arms.

* * *

I wrap my arms around me for warmth as I stand in the cold, damp forest. A thick mist shrouds my surroundings, making it impossible for me to see further than a few feet. I look down at my feet and see that I am wearing tennis shoes and clothes, although I had neglected to put on a jacket. I struggle to remember why am I standing in the forest or how I even got here, finally figuring that I must have sleepwalked out of the cabin.

With no compass or map to guide me, I close my eyes and cast out for any surrounding emotions. I quickly locate Loki via this method, thankfully close. I breathe a sigh of relief as I start walking towards him. I cannot travel fast due to the fog, so I take my time winding in and around the tree trunks.

When I am just before the meadow where the cabin stands, I find my way is blocked by thick thorn bushes. We hadn't had to walk through these bushes when we first find the cabin, so I start making my way around them, knowing at some point I'll have to find a safe way through. However, after walking for what feels like too long, I don't find any passage through the bushes. I stop and scratch my head in confusion. But the fact of the matter is I'm tired and I just want to go back to bed with Loki, so I don't ponder the issue too long. I decide I'll just try and part the bushes as much as I can before I walk through.

I find a large stick lying on the ground near my feet. I pick it up and wield it in front of me, trying to spread the thorn bushes just enough so that I can walk through. It works moderately well; though it saves me from the worst of the thorns, I still manage to prick myself a few times. Thankfully the bushes do not cover much ground, so without too much trouble I find myself on the other side, back in the clearing.

Again, that feeling of being watched causes my skin to crawl. I spin around quickly as my eyes scan through the mist. "Who's there?" I call out, a bit anxiously. I see and hear nobody so I turn back around and hurriedly make my way to the cabin.

I struggle with the door for a few anxious moments, as it seems to be stuck. When I finally manage to push it open, nearly falling into the cabin in the process, I find that the cabin is completely empty.

If I wasn't creeped out before, I most certainly am now. "Loki?" I call out. "Where are you?"

I step into the cabin, firmly closing the door shut behind me, and make a brief round of the building. I very quickly determine that Loki is not there.

Maybe he went out looking for me. He must have woken up, noticed I wasn't there, saw that my shoes were gone, and figured I went out sleepwalking or something. I'm sure he'll be back soon.

But then I freeze, even my heart seeming to still. I felt his emotions in this exact location. He has to be here. Even now I can still feel him near me, though I can't see him.

I brace myself as the door swings open, suddenly on guard because I realize something about this situation is very, very wrong. Jokull's disturbing form walks through the door, smiling all the while. "Hello again, Miss Caroline. I told you I would be back soon to retrieve you. But I have a little welcoming present for you, first."

He tosses a brown sack towards me which I easily catch. My stomach sinks with a strong sense of foreboding as I hold the sack in my hands. I very much don't want to open it and find what waits inside.

"Go ahead," Jokull purrs. "Open it."

Without my express consent, my hands begin working the tie of the sack open. I then stick one of my hands into the bag, stopping as I feel flesh against my hands.

I set the sack on the nearby table and pull the fabric off over the item in the bag. When I see Loki's bloody, severed head sitting before me, I collapse to the ground, letting loose a cry. Jokull walks up and places a hand on my shoulder, almost as if support.

"Ssh. Everything is okay now, for you are ours."

* * *

"Callie, wake up," Loki says as he shakes me roughly. With a gasp I open my eyes and see Loki before me. I struggle against him briefly before realizing that he is alive and that it had only been a dream; I am not fighting against his reanimated corpse or any equivalent horror.

With a cry I bury my face into Loki's shoulder, throwing my arms up around his neck and holding him as close to me as is physically possible. Tears run down my face as the reality of the dream begins to fade from me, along with the terror I had felt when I had realized Loki was dead.

"What happened?" Loki asks, caressing my lower back in comfort. "I assume it was a nightmare, as you were shaking and whimpering in your sleep."

I nod, knowing he can feel the movement. "I woke up here in the cabin but you were gone. I could still feel your emotions, but I couldn't see you. Then Jokull came in with…" I stumble over the words. "He had killed you and told me that I was now his."

Loki smooths my hair against my head. "As you can see, that was not the case. It was just a dream, and will remain as such. Jokull would have a hard time killing me so easily."

Loki holds me, touching me gently, until I cease shaking and calm down. His lips find mine once again and then soon we are moving in tandem, our cries of pleasure breaking through the stillness of the night. When we part, Loki spoons me, holding me against him with nary a spare inch of space between us.

"May you have only pleasant dreams for the rest of the night."


End file.
